[XMAS] - Film #1

Shots from film #1 - Caroline Wong, Dec 2014

As mentioned in my final post before the holidays, I knew I was aiming to get back into the swing of things regarding film photography. Whilst it's tricky for me to experiment with darkroom techniques in the same way as I did at my secondary school (as we had access to a number of different chemicals etc), I still wanted to at least take a break from the digital side and refresh my eyes.

Above are two shots from the roll, both very different in subject but these are the subjects I enjoy photographing most. As with my work for briefs, I always enjoy working when there's a personal element present and above is a photo of a friend taken on the night of another friend's birthday celebration. The first photo is another interest of mine- architecture and landscape. With architecture, I've always been interested in seeing the things that others wouldn't see. I consider myself to be observant of my surrounding more so than others and I like to capture scenes that usually get walked past. Through my fine art pieces and external photography, this is a theme that I've always indulged in exploring.

Shooting with film after such a long time was turbulent however. I am extremely happy with the results of the first roll as there was a lot of work put into it. My camera of choice is the Konica Minolta C35 AF which is known to be the first autofocus camera. Whilst I have a lot less control over the camera given it's autofocus feature, I've unfortunately not been able to get my hands on a Canon AE-1 which I'd love the opportunity to shoot with. The Konica I have is rather old and the battery compartment has the tendency to corrode easily meaning that whenever I retire the camera for a few months, I have to do a clean up before using it when I next pick it up. On top of this, being rusty with the process of film photography, I managed to forget to press the release button on the camera before rewinding the film. This resulted in the film inside the camera snagging and ripping through a good ten or so shots. Because of this, a chunk of the mini shoot I shot was lost but I plan on reshooting it at a later date. I wasn't able to rescue the film there and then as I was without a changing bag and a canister but took it to a photo shop who were kind enough to help me out, distraught and all.

The fiasco with my first roll has been helpful though, I now know that the world will not end if the film rips and that not pressing the film release button on a camera is simply asking for trouble. I'm looking forward to the next roll's results!