The last bit of my 30-day film challenge happened when I was out in California, but I hadn't gotten the film back until yesterday.

Weird things seem to be happening with this film and camera... most things are not coming out as I expect them to at all, which makes for some interesting images.  On a number of the early-morning sunrise photos it looks like there were some shutter issues that blacked out portions of the images.  I'll have to do some research on curtains and film... I don't ever remember that happening in all the years I shot film before, but this is a different camera so who knows?

Anyway, enjoy the surprising weirdness :)

So... I had to stop shooting for a couple days because I couldn't get the camera open after I finished a roll of film.  O_o

Everything is fine now (thankfully) and I'm excited to show you the first round of results.  It's interesting to see what came out of the camera because it's not what I was expecting.  Some shots in the same light are different colors and it seems that the plane of focus is different from what I see through the viewfinder.  This is very grainy film as well.  Makes for some crazy stuff, but I like it.  Maybe now that I know what I'm working with I'll be able to use it to my advantage :)

For the record, this film was a 400 ISO Sensia slide film and most of the shots were taken with a 50mm with a macro extender ring.  I have not modified these digitally at all - I had the film developed and scanned at a local lab.

Here's the scenario going in:

- me

- a nice old film camera (a la 1965)

- the camera does not have a functioning light meter

- the camera may have a light-leak problem

Here's the scenario as it now stands:

- me

- a nice old film camera (a la 1965)

- the camera does not have a functioning light meter

- the camera may have a light-leak problem

- the film in the camera that may be black and white OR color, i can't remember (ok, even more challenging than first anticipated because you shoot differntly because of the kind of film in the camera)

- the first roll is shot and taken to be developed.  turns out it's blank because it didn't catch right when I first loaded it into the camera (the camera tries to show me who's boss, clearly it is not me)

- the second roll is loaded properly, shot, and dropped off to be developed.  it's color, by the way.  hopefully there are actually exposures on it.

- the third roll is loaded (properly, I hope) and just started.  also color.

- i forgot to buy more film today while i was at the photo lab, so now i'm officially out of supplies

The more challenging challenge seems to be increasing in challenging-ness almost daily, but I'm going to fight through it and post some images in the end, damnit!  Watch out world!  And please be patient.

:)

Some of you may recall my 30-day challenge back in January when I posted a photo each day for 30 days.  It was a good exercise for me and I felt like some learning and growing happened in the process.  It has been decided that it is about darned time that I do another 30-day challenge.  This time, however, will be with film in a camera without a real, functioning light meter.  Hence the more challenging aspect of this challenge.  I have been meaning to get back into film for a while (it has been quite a long time... since before digital cameras were the norm...) so this seems like a good way to do it.  Of course, I will only be able to post after the film has been developed, so I'm guessing about once a week.

Today is day 1... wish me luck!

And because every post needs a photo... enjoy this one of the interior of a century plant/agave/maguey:

Made it!  I had one or two days there where I wasn't sure it would happen, but it did!  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that yesterday was in fact Day 30, so I don't have any special picture to bring the whole thing full circle.  I think I'm ok with that :)

50mm 1.4, f/1.4, 1/250sec, ISO 800, no flash

Some observations:

- Low-light shooting is hard.  Doable, but hard.  

- Quickly flagging, editing, and posting the best of a bunch in LR: my time from downloading the image to posting it online has probably been halved.  This will be useful for a photography career :)

- Another lens would be lovely.  More variety, more sharp images... yeah....

- I am (almost) never to busy to just take one photo and post it, so I should just go ahead and do it.

- Next time I'm doing this during the summer so I'll have more daylight photos (yay!)

- I really like details and narrow DOF.

- Simple is good.

- Shapes and lines are good.

- I can avoid 30 days of mostly food pictures!

- I routinely take photos that are rotated about two degrees off... I never, ever, EVER take a level photo.

- Don't be afraid to try moving the clarity slider BACKWARDS!!!! Who knew? Sometimes it works.

- Never leave home without the camera.

Hope it was enjoyable for you and thanks for following :)