Black and White Film Experiment

 How fun are these film canister flash drives? Find them here.

I definitely had a plan for this roll of film. With the exception of the picture of my nephew, I just HAD to take a picture of him on film, I decided I was going to go around town and take some shots of things from my childhood that were no longer being used. It's somewhat disturbing that there are so many old, broken down buildings in Milford that have stood vacant for years. I thought it would be interesting to capture the ugliness of it all.

I finished the 36 frames over the course of two days and stuck to shooting with my 85mm prime lens, again, with the exception of James' picture. I like to challenge myself by only bringing one lens with me to force me to frame things differently. It helps me think about my shots.

The roll of black and white film I shot was a roll of Kodak T400CN. I still have rolls of true black and white, but I figured I'd stick with a C-41 processable roll in case the film was too old. It's less expensive and takes less time to process. Again, I pushed the film to 800, so the results have a bit of grain, but I'm fond of that in black and white shots.

Sign for the old Showcase Cinemas in Milford.

 

James goofing around for the fish eye lens. As soon as the picture was taken, he insisted I show him the result. I tried to explain to him that this was a different kind of camera and he had to wait to see the pictures. Frustrated, the three and a half year old demanded I go get the camera where he could see the pictures!

Old busted down shack.

 

Window detail.

Sign for Paul's that is still standing.

Leaf stuck to my car.

I was really excited to take pictures of the dead tulips. I think I like this one more than the color picture of the same flowers while they were in full bloom.

Lilies of the Valley, round two. You can really see how delicate they are next to the drops of rain on the leaves.

After the film was shot, I was struck with the hardest decision of all: what to do with it. I used to process my own pictures and make a set of 4x6 prints out of them, but I wasn't sure if anything was going to even come out. What would be the point of having prints made up? I'd just have to scan the prints to be able to share them, so I had the film scanned to CD.

I was really happy with the results. I noticed that I was taking the time to look at things again. Not just look, but really see. I think that all photographers could benefit from that. We've gotten so used to instant gratification, knowing the second after we've shot something whether it's a keeper or not. It felt good to unplug for a while.