A Return To Film

I really want to love shooting film. At its best, it’s great practice for all photo mediums due to the fact that it trains my brain to slow down. The extra tactility is also enjoyable, plus it’s just fun to shoot on an old camera. Fun is what photography should be about, and fun could be what keeps my too-idle hobby alive.

Last week, I got the itch to shoot some film for the first time in five years. In particular, I wanted to play with the medium format camera I bought in 2019, a Fuji GW690iii. It’s a fixed focal length rangefinder camera, a style with which I have very little experience. I only shot one roll of film through the camera to make sure it was working five years ago, so giving it another chance seemed like a fun idea.

This particular roll of film was mostly about figuring out the issues with my processes rather than getting good photos. It’s been so long that I barely remember what I’m doing. I also have some interest in trying large format photography, but that’s a place I only want to go if my process is dialed in, as the costs associated with that format are much higher. In the meantime, this camera still produces some gloriously large negatives, and that was about half of the draw of digging it back out.

Since last week was Thanksgiving, I had to drive from Goleta to Redondo Beach on Thursday, then back up on Friday. I figured that would be an opportune time to fire some test shots, since a lot of that drive goes along the coast, and I’m pretty familiar with these locations since I ride my bike there a lot. I also figured it would be fun to upload every shot from this roll of film onto this blog. Most of these photos are bad, but I thought it would be interesting to document, especially since this camera only yields eight shots of 120 film.

So, without further adieu, here are the photos. You can click on any of them to make them larger and put them in front of a dark background, which I would recommend.

——

My first film photo in five years! And it’s very… ordinary. I like the sky a lot though. Acros is fairly low-contrast film, but I really like what it does with sky tones in particular. Maybe I’ll need to buy an orange filter for this camera at some point too.

Fuji GW690iii, Acros 100II + D-76, ISO 100

The next photo is my favorite composition of the roll, but unfortunately it suffers from extreme motion blur. It’s not a huge problem on the web, but this shot is not printable. The composition is worth coming back for, though if I was doing it over again I’d include more foreground rocks as well. It’s only a 30 minute drive from home, so there will be other opportunities, provided I remember to shoot them at low tide.

I drove further down the coast for this shot and I liked the haze blocking the bottom of Santa Cruz Island along with the little sandbar in front of the waves. The film also did great with the transition to the bright highlights on the left side of the photo. I’ll go more into the problems I encountered with this roll of film after I’m done showing the photos, but this photo has many of them. Somewhat oddly given the other issues, it is also by far the sharpest scan. Ultimately it’s a composition which would have worked better with a wider angle, an option this camera does not have.

The next day, still drowsy after stuffing myself with turkey, I decided to finish my film on the way home so I could develop it over the weekend. The conditions were less than optimal, with the nice light from the day before being replaced by varieties of overcast. However, the sunlight did briefly filter through the clouds when I got near Pt. Mugu, between Malibu and Oxnard.

Further up the road, I stopped at Sycamore Cove State Beach. The filtered light was starting to disappear, but I liked the idea of playing with the strong contrast between ocean foam and dark sand. I decided to leave some of the other beachgoers in the first shot. I like the mood of the clouds in this series, I just wish there was a bit more light on the background rocks too.

Standing in nearly the same place (but with the composition somewhat refined), I tried to time the curl of the waves with fresh waves in the foreground. It didn’t quite work on this one, but it was close enough.

Another attempt at the same composition. When I shoot seascapes on digital I can sometimes end up with hundreds of shots in order to find the right wave pattern. It’s an interesting challenge to try to find it with a limited number of attempts.

Finally, for the last shot, I turned around and waited until the moment after the waves started to recede to add some bubbles to the leading line. This is my favorite photo of the roll.

——

So, what did we learn?

First, on the positive side: I shot a roll of film for the first time in five years, developed it at home, there was actually stuff on the negatives, and shooting these photos made me happy. The importance of all of that can’t be understated. It had been five years since I had last crossed film’s barrier to entry, and I crossed it.

There were still some issues, though. The primary problem was that the film had handling damage. Some of the shots had dark splotches on top, while others hand visible dimpling on the negatives after I was done. The main potential source of this was the fact that I had a lot of difficulty loading film onto the developing roll in the changing bag, which is a common source of frustration with medium format film. I’ve also heard that Acros can be particularly difficult to work with in this regard.

Also concerning was that most of these photos are not very sharp. If I’m working with a format that is obtuse in the interest of increased fidelity, that is not acceptable. A few of the shots have visible motion blur, which can obviously be corrected by setting up a tripod. A few of these were also shot at f/22 for full depth of field, but it’s possible that I was losing sharpness due to diffraction by that point. Beyond that, I also think my relatively cheap scanner is a problem, and I’ve already started taking steps to address that.

But, most importantly, would I do it again? Well, I already have another roll of film loaded, and I have a plan for where and when I want to shoot it. I wouldn’t say I’m fully hooked yet, but I’m enticed by the idea of solving the puzzles I’ve created for myself. For now, that’s enough to keep me going.

Wells Blog

Featured Posts