Before I begin, let me just warn you that this isn’t a “Film vs. Digital” blog post and how one is better than the other, so if that’s what you’re hoping to find I suggest you look elsewhere. Just Google that phrase and I’m sure it will lead you to several links regarding that matter. In all honesty, I’ve had enough of that “Film vs. Digital” debate and I can’t fathom why these guys continue to go at it to prove that one is better than the other. (Everyone just needs to relax, I mean, each medium has its own place in photography.) So yeah, this article is about a photography exercise I engaged in, and the lessons I learned since I've gotten so used to shooting with my DSLR.
A couple of months ago, my then girlfriend wanted us to spend some time apart. (Insert dark and ominous background music here.) I was devastated. (Duh?!) I couldn’t focus on doing important tasks and I mostly spent the day moping around. (Yes ladies, guys mope around too.) Realizing that I couldn’t afford to just lie in bed all day until I’m okay, I decided to do something productive and translate what I’m feeling into photographs. Inspired by The Last Roll of Kodachrome and The One Roll Challenge, I chose to document places and things that were meaningful in our relationship. You see the challenge revolves around one thought: What would you shoot if there were only one roll of film left on Earth? I figured I’d rather use the “last roll of film” on something that’s close to my heart than anything else. Since I have a roll of 120mm Kodak PORTA 160NC which, coincidentally, was also the last roll of film in my possession loaded in my Yashica 635 that hasn’t been used, I was all set. I only had 12 shots, so I spent the rest of the day meticulously planning for this project. Remember, this was the “last roll of film”, so I wanted to make sure that every shot I took was perfect.
I went out to shoot the next day lugging around my 635 and my Sekonic L-308S Flashmate. I would’ve liked to bring a tripod but I didn’t own one (as of this writing). Having spent almost the entire day doing this project, I realized how much shooting with film, combined with the thought of shooting with “the last roll of film” drastically changed the way I shoot.
The first thing I noticed with this challenge was that it took me a long time before taking a shot (like really, really long) because I refused to take any passable, substandard shots. You know? Those images that take up a huge chunk of your hard drive space but never really get printed, or never really get uploaded on your online portfolio or your Facebook page? Yes, those. So anyway, it forced me to think twice (twice is actually an understatement) before taking a shot. Aside from the fact that using the 635 is an entirely different shooting experience, (more on that later) I needed to slow down in order for me to nail every frame. Unlike shooting with my DSLR, I didn’t have the luxury of just taking a shot, reviewing the image, and then readjusting (or deleting) if the output sucked. Not that I shoot haphazardly with my DSLR, but I think you get the point. I needed to make sure that all the elements were spot on, so I found myself constantly metering the exposure whenever I felt that the light had changed, and constantly checking every inch of my frame if there was one element I didn’t like. There were even times when I wanted to smash that stupid camera on the ground out of frustration (There was also a lot of cursing involved.) and use my DSLR instead, but then I’d be quickly reminded that using a DSLR defeats the very purpose of this challenge. (By the way, I was kidding, the 635 is not a stupid camera. In fact I love that thing.)
In case you didn’t know, the 635 is a TLR (Twin-Lens Reflex) camera. Its lens is a Yashikor 80mm f/3.5, which is fine, really, but there were times when the area I was shooting in was really tight and I wanted a wider shot. When you look at the viewfinder, you’ll notice that what you’re seeing is a horizontally inverted view of what you’re actually photographing. It tends to get confusing at times when I try to frame my composition, which added to the many reasons why it took me a while just to prepare to take a shot. The 635 is all mechanical, which means it doesn’t have its own built-in metering system, thus the need for a handheld light meter. Speaking of which, the L-308S doesn’t have a spot meter, so one trick I would always do whenever I need to expose for a scene with areas that have different lighting (very bright and very dark) is to walk all the way towards the area that I want to be perfectly exposed, do an incident metering from there, then walk back to where I want to shoot. I always find it to be more accurate than doing a reflective metering. (You can read about the difference between incident and reflective metering here.) If I was using my DSLR, I would just set the metering mode to spot metering, point to the area (sometimes I zoom in on that area if I’m using a zoom lens) that I want to be perfectly exposed, measure the exposure, recompose, then take a shot. It’s much easier and much quicker isn’t it? Okay, going back to the 635. It also doesn’t advance the film automatically so you need to rotate its film advance knob after taking a shot. Oh, and its frame size is 6x6cm which (obviously) is a square format. (Yes kids, just like Instagram's!) Did I mention that you can only focus manually? Shocker.
I remember when I was on my 3rd frame, I was all set to take a portrait of the girlfriend’s dog, but as soon as I pressed the shutter she decided to walk away. I knew I missed it, and I had to choose between moving on to my next shot, and using another frame to repeat the shot. I chose to repeat the shot. Luckily she didn’t move, but still, that’s one frame wasted. What’s surprising is that I felt really disappointed that I didn’t get it right on my first try, and I never feel that way whenever I make a mistake shooting with my DSLR because I know that I can always shoot another one. Talk about taking the challenge seriously.
One of the limiting factors that kept this challenge interesting was the speed of the film I used. Like I said, I didn’t have a choice because this was my last roll, but if I had, I would’ve preferred to use a Kodak Tri-X 400 (black and white), or a Kodak PORTA 400NC (color) so my film speed would be faster. That’s actually one of the advantages of shooting in digital. You always have the luxury of changing your ISO at any given time, unlike shooting with film wherein you’re stuck at a fixed ISO depending on your roll. In this case, the film speed of the Kodak PORTA 160NC is ISO 160. I read somewhere that it’s best if you overexpose it by 1/3 to 1/2 of a stop, so I’ve always followed this trick in the past, setting the film speed to ISO 100 on my 635 and my light meter, and it has always worked for me. Anyway, ISO 100 didn’t give me any problems when shooting outdoors, but indoors? Oh man, to get the exposure right I needed to use a slower shutter speed, and I found myself trying these obscure body positions (Who knew those yoga classes I used to attend would actually come in handy?) just to get the camera as stable as I could because I didn’t have a tripod with me.
This challenge allowed me to push myself into being more creative and resourceful, especially when the situation got tricky. There’s no Photoshop to help save my ass from any crucial mistake I make after pressing the shutter release button so I did everything I could to get it perfect in-camera. Of course, there’s always the option to scan the negative into a digital file and load it in to Photoshop, but that costs a lot of money. Just to give you an idea, it costs PHP 75 (as of this writing) to scan one frame at Studio 58 Lab 10. Seems cheap, but that’s just for one image. If you want to scan your entire roll, it’s going to cost you around PHP 900 – PHP 2,700. But hey, if you have lots of money to throw around then by all means snap away. Besides, getting everything right in-camera gave me a sense of satisfaction (and accomplishment) in the end because I knew that I managed to pull it off by relying on my creativity and skill. Isn’t that a great way to boost your confidence? Yes, you can argue that you can bring that attitude towards shooting in digital, but come on, whether you admit it or not, there’s still that underlying thought at the back of your head that you can always use Photoshop in post. We’re so spoiled by technology don’t you think?
Sadly, I screwed up this challenge big time. On my 7th frame, I accidentally advanced the film, thinking that I have already shot with it, wasting another frame. It really kept bugging me so after using the entire roll, I loaded it back into the camera thinking that if I carefully advanced the film back to the 7th frame, I can still shoot with it. I mean I learned how to swap film mid-roll back in college so it’s going to be easy right? Wrong! So! Wrong! The spool got stuck as I was advancing the film so I had to open the back cover, get the film out, and rewind the entire roll manually. Luckily I was indoors and I had my bag with me so I was able to rewind it in a dark place, but I wasn’t able to rewind the film tightly since I was panicking the entire time. I knew I ruined “the last roll of film”, and I knew that I exposed it with what I just did, but I still had it processed the following week, hoping that at least something came out. It’s funny how a person can screw up when he’s not thinking straight. Anyway, so I made a mistake, big deal! It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something. Every photographer makes a mistake, even the seasoned professionals. It’s just that film is less forgiving than digital.
So what’s my takeaway on this exercise? First, shooting with my DSLR has made me lazy, lazy in the sense that I don’t really stop and think anymore about what I want to achieve before taking a shot. I somehow have an idea of an image in mind and then I just go from there, which isn’t totally a bad thing considering it’s also part of the process of any creative work, but it feels like I’m just winging it as I go along as opposed to carefully thinking about what I’m actually doing. And second, shooting with film is a really good exercise for my photography, and I should do it more often. Not only did the challenge keep me on my toes (and even then I still made crucial mistakes) with the technical stuff, it also pushed my creativity especially when I was presented with various limitations. Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes, so I know I’ll eventually get the hang of it. This might seem crazy but I would love to shoot an assignment on film one day. Maybe when I’m less prone to fucking it all up. (I'm so sorry for cursing.)
How about you? Have you had any experience in shooting with film? Share your stories or your thoughts by commenting below. Oh, and to prove that I’m not a dunce (apologies for being defensive because of this screw up), I’ll be sharing some photos taken from my 635 in a future post.