Film
Yup. You read that right! I said FILM. Film photography is coming back. More and more people are buying film cameras and lenses and, yes, film! I had two film cameras, a Pentax K-1000 which was my first “real” 35mm camera, and a ProMaster camera which was stolen from me during my divorce and move out from my home. [It still had film in it, too. 🙁]
Once upon a time you could take your film canister into someplace like Walgreen’s, CVS, or a camera store to have your film developed in an hour or less, and you could get your prints and the negatives back quickly so you could look to see how good – or how bad – you did. And, of course, you would buy more film to put into your camera so you could take more photos. For a long time you could buy, and still can buy, throw away cameras that are loaded with film; they were your basic point and shoot cameras. You would shoot all the frames and take the camera into the store to be developed and they would break open the camera in a dark bag and remove the film, and then run it through the chemicals for processing before someone sat down with the processed film and printed what was on the negatives. Yes, I have used those cameras in the past, especially if I was going someplace where I really didn’t want to haul a heavy-ish camera and camera bag. They aren’t bad cameras. The throw away cameras actually take really good photos. They are also good to give to your kids to take photos of their friends, parties, or just the outdoors, and when done you can have the film developed and prints made.
So I have had a desire to get back to film photography. I took a lot of great photos with my Pentax camera, and probably my ProMaster, too, but I don’t remember those photos. I didn’t have a lot of lenses back then because I couldn’t afford them, but I made “do” with what I did have. I even took a course from the New York Institute of Photography and was within one section of finishing and becoming a professional. That was an enjoyable course of study and I’m sad that I no longer have my course materials. [Again, I have no idea whatever happened to them.] I even had a photojournalist badge, but since I didn’t finish the course, it wasn’t validated. However, I never did get into processing and printing my own film. I have a friend that did that when he was taking photos, but that was a lot of chemicals I didn’t want to be bothered with and had no real space to store them or to do film/print developing.
I was just thinking of a time when I was at Silver Springs State Park here in Florida taking a boat ride [I don’t think it was on one of the glass bottomed boats, though] and I was shooting away when I ran out of film in my camera. I rewound my film as fast as I could and I grabbed my camera bag, opened another box of film and loaded my camera as quick as I could,. One woman remarked that she had never seen anyone change film that quickly. Well, heck, I didn’t want to miss anything! [I have been back in Florida for a little over two years, and I live not far from that Park, yet I haven’t managed to get there and see how it’s changed in over 30 years. Someday soon, I hope!]
So, I got itchy and I bought an inexpensive refurbished Canon EOS Rebel Ti film camera and two rolls of 8 print 35mm film [off-brand] to test it out. There are things I need to learn because this camera is very different from my Pentax K1000. Unfortunately it didn’t come with a manual so I had to download one and I’m going to print it so I can learn about this camera. I will say, though, that with the price of film and printing now this probably isn’t going to be the part of my photography that I am going to do a lot. Although, nowadays you can get just the CD without prints and then look at what you’ve taken in the privacy of your home and print what you want and ignore the rest. While a bit early I got this for me for my birthday. You might recall that I had purchased a Canon Powershot Pro1 camera two years ago for my birthday and I have fiddled with it from time to time. I just haven’t been anywhere to take photos, which is my fault. [Being body limited right now I can’t take photos like I used to, and want to, so I have to learn what my body can do for the photos I want. The word for 2026 is LEARN!]
Digital. Film. Phone. Polaroid et al. Throw away [they do come in digital, but those are harder to find]. Professional. Amateur. Just for fun or for profit. Photography has been with us since the mid 1800s, believe it or not. And it will be around for much much longer, I hope. [And I am not discussing video because it’s not something I do , like some folks don’t “do” Windows.]
Posted in Photography by Jason with no comments yet.
The History Of Us
History. It tells us a lot about where we’ve been, and sometimes where we might be going in the future. Many of us tend to ignore it, or tried to just squeak by in school, and then never really giving it too much thought after that.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, our 35th President of the United States and the youngest President ever elected. There have been a lot of theories about who assassinated him that day in Dallas, TX but there has never been an absolute answer. We may never know.
I was at the grocery store yesterday and I picked up a copy of Time’s 100 Photographs The Most Influential Images of All Time. I love books and magazines like this and I have collected quite a few over the years. [A dear friend started me down this path of “photo books”.]
A lot can be told about our lives through photographs, especially the last 150 years. Imagine photos taken that long ago where there were wide open empty spaces; no houses, no lights, no cars, very few people! Photographs exist of Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. That can be mind boggling when you think of it. 1863! That’s 160 years ago. Want to be even more blown away? How about the earliest known photograph to exist? 1826! I feel sorry for the guy that had to sit there for 8 hours without moving!
Photographs have also documented our wars, from the War Between the States, to both World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam, and continuing up to today. They show the tragedy, heartache, death that war brings mostly to innocent people. It shows our history. History from all over the world. And shows how vulnerable we all are, and that we are all humans.
Photography doesn’t just chronicle us; it chronicles our lives and struggles, poverty and affluence, births and deaths, good times and bad. Photography takes us to the stars and to the underwater depths. It shows us the amazing and the shocking. It makes us laugh and cry. And what is so fantastic about photography today is that it now can be shared with the world via the internet.
So, you see, photography IS history, whether the images are produced by the most expensive cameras that exist or by that little communication device we know as our cell phone. A piece of us, and our lives, and all that gather around us, from peace to wartime, our pets, animals in the wild and in our backyard, the stars above and the ocean depths – it all becomes the History of Us.
Posted in Photography, Reflections and tagged history, jfk, photographic history by Jason with no comments yet.
Soaring Above Sights
I have a friend named Peter Hamilton. I met Peter online because we work together. I soon found out that he was an amateur photographer and the photos that he shared on Facebook were macro photos [extreme closeups]. That world of insects that we don’t often notice in our every day life. I was incredibly impressed.
And then a guy that Peter knew encouraged him to take photos of eagles. Oh my gosh, the photos that he got! With his equipment, and lenses, those photos made you feel as though you were right there in front of the eagle. It was like you could just reach out and touch them.
And then the owls! I was already beginning to feel somewhat jealous – no, more like envious. And just when I thought I was calming down from THAT wouldn’t you know that Peter started photographing ospreys catching salmon. Let me tell you, you really have to be ready to catch a bird in flight after catching a fish and you have to have the right settings. And Peter does it all on manual settings! Blown away now, totally past the envious stage, and jealousy is no where to be seen!
I am really proud of Peter and his photographic accomplishments. And I see him as turning professional in the not to distant future. I am providing a link to his Instagram account so if you’re interested, or you’re on Instagram, take a look. I think you’ll enjoy what you see!
Posted in Photography by Jason with 2 comments.