Having been a digital photographer since day one I’ve not had much experience with good ol’ film. Well, except for that one class I took that one time in Freshman year of high school. And at that time it just wasn’t fun.
This time around though it’s quite exciting. I’ve started playing with medium format. First a Diana F+ and now a Mamiya. I think the things that grabs me most this go ‘round is the fact that I can’t see it instantly. I actually have to wait and each time it feels a little like Christmas morning. This Labor Day weekend feels like another Christmas as well. While stopping at several antique stores on our way to Louisville, KY for the long weekend I found this little gem called a Voigtlander Bessamatic. It’s a silver tank of a 35mm camera. When I purchased it and talked the seller down 10% to a whopping $45 I had no idea whether or not the camera worked.
After making the purchase and arriving in Louisville I shot straight to the nearest Walgreens to buy a cheap roll of film. After Google’ing the manual I loaded the film and ran around for the day trying to fire off 24 exposures. “Oh, please please work” I kept saying to myself. Two hours after dropping off the film I picked it up and to my surprise, it worked perfectly. I’m actually still stunned by how well it works and how wonderful the photos look. Like Christmas morning indeed.
Now, I can’t wait to shoot the next roll, but this time with a purpose other than blowing through film to see if the camera works. In the meantime, it’s off to the scanner so I can post the shots to my Flickr page.
