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So when it came to deciding what camera kit to take with me to Cambodia I had a heck of a time not just dumping everything I owned into my camera bags and dragging it halfway across the world with me. But then my oh so sensible partner, Gordon, reminded me that being indecisive now meant I'd end up schlepping 5 cameras and 10 lens around everywhere I went (thank heavens I didn't do that because EVERYTHING was uphill in Cambodia). So I narrowed down my kit and decided to take my two digital bodies Jeff and Zee (aka Olympus E-30 and Fuji XE1) and 4 lens (Olympus 11–22 mm f 2.8-3.5, Olympus 14-54 mm f 2.8 – 3.5, Olympus 40-150mm f 4.0 – 5.6 and Fuji XF 18-55 mm f 2.8 – 4.0). Hours before I left for the trip I had a mad impulsive urge to take one of my film bodies, so amid much eye rolling on Gordon's part I threw Oly (Olympus OM-1 with a 50 mm f 1.8 lens) and 3 rolls of film into my bag.
Why am I telling you this? Well because despite having shot 5000 or so frames between my digital bodies, I only allowed myself to shoot 36 exposures, 1 roll of film, with my film body....and I just got the roll back! Which means TIME TO SHARE MORE IMAGES. But before I do, understand that I did not expect much initially from this roll, so was really surprised to find images on it that were “share-worthy”.
I love film photography because it forces you to slow down...stop...think...shoot. Each frames costs a pretty penny so you need to be absolutely sure before you decide to expose. But just because I love it and enjoy it more doesn't necessarily mean I'll be any good at it. Why do I say that...well it is all because:-
Film photography is so very very new to me.
Ollie is my first ever film SLR.
She is a 42 year old gal and finicky at times.
This is the fourth roll of film I have ever shot on her.
The first roll of film doesn't even get to count because it wasn't loaded up right and I ended up developing a fully un-exposed roll of film (I said I was new people...don't judge).
The second and third roll I shot had major focus issues...novice mistakes on my part.
So to be frank, of the 36 images I shot I expected maybe one or two would turn out semi ok....you could have knocked me over with a feather when more than 2 had decent exposure and focus. Now they may not be as captivating as the digital captures of the same scenes....but to be honest I'm actually more proud of these images than the digital ones. They make me feel like a “real” honest to goodness photographer.
Though I love all 36 images, I culled them down because there were a couple that were similar. Here in no particular order are the images from my roll of Ilford Delta – 3200 Professional 135-36 Black & White Print Negative Film. The negatives were scanned in so I could post digital images to the website.
Lemme know whatcha think? Before I go...thank you Neil and Helen for gifting me with Ollie and the roll of Ilford black and white film that these images were taken on. You may have created a bit of a photography snob in me.
