Summer of Film in Review - 2016

I've always been interested in film, but was always too nervous to try and thought it was beyond my skill level. For the first few months of 2016 film wasn't even on my mind, but I was having a lot of hangups about photography.  I was feeling uninspired and unhappy with the photos I was creating.  I was hating all the time I was spending at my computer at night and all the time I was thinking about editing during the day.  

Then I saw something in my newsfeed about the Embrace the Grain workshop and I just went for it.  I put my dslr in my closet and, other than a handful of client sessions, haven't taken it out since..  And it literally changed my life. 

I don't even know if I can describe the feeling of having TIME to do what I want to do.  Since I haven't had to cull (the worst) and edit any personal photos, I have read more books this summer than I had in a long time. I binge watched so much Netflix. I was able to be present with my kids during the day instead of thinking about all that I had to edit that night.  I even started exercising again! Oh and sleep.  I sleep 6-7 hours every.single.night.  Can I tell you how amazing that feels?! I used to try and get by on 4 hours (sometimes less) because I was editing at night.  I felt physically sick sometimes from lack of sleep. 

Because film costs about $1-2 per photo, gone are the days of taking 25 photos of a single moment. Film forces you to SLOW down, chill out, and wait for the moment.  Yes I missed some moments, but I learned that its OK.  That another moment that is just as good or even better is about to happen in a couple minutes.  That I will most likely forget about that missed moment anyways.  I learned its ok if I dont even take a single photo.  So many times I would bring the camera up to my face and either the moment never happened or I realized that no, I didn't really need a photo of this after all.   Because of this very careful and very intentional shooting, the keep rate with film is very high (my last few rolls I would say my keep rate was about 85-90% - something that NEVER happened with digital). 

Finally, shooting film is just fun. I love the whole process - choosing a film stock, deciding how to rate it, planning your shots, gathering some rolls and mailing them to them lab, and then waiting for your scans to come back from the lab. That anticipation is like a kid waiting for Christmas every two weeks.  I love seeing what worked and what didn't,  seeing how film handles all types of light so well, remembering the little moments that I had already forgotten in two short weeks. 

When I started this summer of film experiment I thought I'd be back to digital once fall started.  But I have no intention of taking that digital camera out of the closet any time soon.  I even did my first family session all on film recently and it was a blast.  Definitely give film a try if you are even a little bit interested! You might fall head over heels for it like I did!  I took the Embrace the Grain Workshop from the get-go, which I can't recommend enough. 

Well this post for my love of film is long enough.  Here are some of my favorite shots from these past few moths.