Film Friday - Random San Francisco

Film Friday is back! With some random SF pictures, taken a rather long time ago but somehow never shared on the blog. I've been shooting a bit less film lately (possibly because I'm down to my last three rolls and haven't been able to justify buying more until I shoot those, also possibly because of that whole month where my left arm stopped working properly), but I still love it, of course. I don't think I'll ever stop shooting digital for my client work, but equally I don't think I'll ever stop shooting film for my personal work. I like the division; it makes sense to me. And I love medium format so, so much.

I always want to photograph dogs, anywhere I see them.

One of my favorite coffee shop windows, from the inside.

Window selfie!

And some nasturtiums.

Happy Film Friday! Have a great weekend! Get out there and enjoy the sunshine!

*Interested in a film or digital portrait session? Please contact me for details!*

*Want to see more film? Check out all the Film Friday posts!*

Film Friday - A Whole Roll of Velvia After a Storm in the Dominican Republic

For this Film Friday I thought I'd repeat the exercise of putting up a whole roll of film (which is 12 photos when you shoot 120 film in a 6x6 camera, as I do). I did this once before with a roll of black and white film in Montreal, but that roll was shot over two days, while this roll I shot in maybe an hour and a half after a rainstorm one evening.

I love the moodiness of these photos, but I also can't help but think that they're a bit too dark to really feel like me, and I'm not overly pleased with the way the shadows are rendering - no real detail, but they don't go to black quite either. I've played with them in Lightroom and so they're better, but still not quite the way I want them. I don't know if it's an issue with shooting the film in a way that doesn't show it to its best advantage, or if it's been scanned wrong, or if this is just maybe how it's supposed to look.

Anyway, that aside, there's still a lot I love about these beach shots. They're much less sunny than the photos I've posted in the past two weeks. I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.

We walked along this beach almost every evening to find a restaurant for dinner, hand in hand. Evan pretended to be annoyed when I would stop to take a photo, but I think he's really become inured to it at this point. We were often the only ones on the beach, although rarely some other wanderer might pass us by. It was a lovely feeling to stroll and listen to the waves breaking, or lapping quietly, depending on their mood.

*Interested in a film or digital portrait session? Please contact me for details!*

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Film Friday - Dominican Republic Beaches on Ektar

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Film Friday - Dominican Republic on Velvia!

OK, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. First of all, two of these photos aren't from the DR (they were shot in the Atlanta airport, can you guess which ones??), and the first photo isn't even Velvia - it's Provia!

I'm so sorry.

But what these photos lack in honesty (or wait, is it the photos, or is it me? Don't answer that) they make up for in sheer colorfulness.

I do love me some slide film. And Velvia, I apologize for all those times I maligned you, and said I wasn't really sure why everyone loved you. I get it now. You're not really meant for gloomy San Francisco days. You belong on the beaches. My bad!

Our little hotel room patio

Random archway

My favorite palm tree. Probably. It was hard to choose.

More DR film photos coming up next week! I'm still working on scanning all nine rolls (!!) I shot, but they're looking good so far. Especially if you like palm trees.

*Interested in a film or digital portrait session? Please contact me for details!*

*Want to see more film? Check out all the Film Friday posts!*

Film Friday - Expired Film, Lake Merritt and the Ferry Building

It's Friday and I'm all out of words (used them all up this week, should have been more careful!).

But fortunately I'm not out of pictures. And I just shot nine rolls of film in the Dominican Republic that I'm about to get developed, so I won't be out any time soon. It was a fantastic trip, and I'll tell you all about it soon, once I get a few more words back in stock.

Have a great weekend!

*Interested in a film or digital portrait session? Please contact me for details!*

*Want to see more film? Check out all the Film Friday posts!*

Film Friday - A Whole Roll of Black and White, Mostly Montreal

An interesting exercise today. I thought I'd share with you a whole roll of medium format film (I only get twelve photos per roll with a 6x6 camera), and I decided to share it all in the order I shot it.

A couple of things you might learn from this: I almost never photograph any scene twice. Film is precious to me (and expensive!) so I try really hard to get it right the first time. If I don't get it right, I don't get the shot. That's okay; that's life.

I'm also, especially with the square format, really attracted to symmetry. I love shooting down streets and alleyways, and I always feel like I have to be dead center. I'm sure there are some photographers who feel like such symmetry is boring. Maybe so - for me, it's calming.

I love this little parklet! It's like an oasis in the middle of Montreal. This day was so hot and sticky. It was refreshing to walk into a green spot, even if only for a few moments.

As I recall, these flowers were orange. Hard to tell now!

I just loved these little window vines.

Nothing better than a gelato on a hot afternoon.

The next morning we stopped into this little bakery for breakfast. Out of habit, we tried speaking French to the guy behind the bar. Turned out he was Australian, and his French was pretty much nonexistent! The coffee was great, though.

That concludes the Montreal photos. The last three are just me trying to finish up the roll so I could get it developed already! I started with a classic mirror self portrait.

Then a little still life of my dresser. Should probably cut off that made in China tag!

And last, my favorite (and almost only) purchase in Montreal: my glass water bottle. I just love drinking out of glass. It's so much more comfortable than plastic or metal, and I can't explain exactly why.

So there you have it! Twelve photos, one roll.

*Interested in a film or digital portrait session? Please contact me for details!*

*Want to see more film? Check out all the Film Friday posts!*