Kyle and I push ourselves to ride more, create more, learn more, and I’ve found myself wanting to unlock the beauty of film photography; to creatively capture the beauty of riding, nature, people, and the story that surrounds them. As I am finding at the age of 31, there is quality with analog that you can not find digitally (i.e. vinyl records, film photography). Can you take amazing shots or listen to rad jams digitally… absolutely, but it won’t have the soul of film or vinyl.
With that said… I’ve been using a Vivitar PS:30 for about a month and its opened my eyes to film. It’s a simple point and shoot that doesn’t take much thought other than simple depth to field and lighting.
Kyle has been in the photography game much longer than myself. Because of this he has fun toys for me to play with and learn as I go down this film road. I was talking with him 3 weeks ago about the Vivitar and that I loved the feel of film vs. digital. He pops in with “I’ve got a Canon ELAN 7E if you want to use it?”… [immediate response] Um… YES! He ships, I open, pop in film, go shoot… in that order. WELL actually, I read instructions for the better part of 3 hours, waited till the next day, and blew through a roll of film shooting randomness.
With each shot I took note of the shutter speed and aperture. I shot indoors and outdoors with low end Kodak 400 UltraMax (not getting good film until I get a handle on what I’m doing). I learned the importance of shutter speed and although the exposure may be spot on… if you have a slower shutter speed, shooting by hand, and the object is moving… things are about to get blurry. This is where the right film comes into play. The appropriate film will allow for the proper exposure at a faster shutter speed keeping a nice crisp image BAM!
Onto the point. I thought I was capturing some amazing goodness this first round of using the Canon ELAN 7E. Out of the 24 shots, I nabbed 5 that are ok. The two photos above are the only ride related images. They both are “good” because the outcome was exactly what I was going for. The second photo is a bit over exposed (on purpose). I took the proper exposure and increased it by +1 to see how overexposed it would make it. I kind of dig it.
When I got these photos developed I was frustrated. I spent a good bit of time researching, taking notes, and taking my time with each photo taken. 19 of the 24 turned out horrible. I was frustrated. My initial thought “this is tough, time consuming, and costly”. I wanted to throw in the towel and just work with point and shoot film cameras and the iphone I’ve been using for many moons. What I did instead was take a step back, evaluate the big picture, and grip reality. This first round wasn’t going to be good. It shouldn’t have been… it’s my first roll of film on a legit camera. To be honest, I’m suprised any of them turned out… for that I should be overly ecstatic!!
Moral of the story, don’t be afraid to fail. If you want to be good at something accept that you’re going to suck at first. Stay consistent and progressive; educate yourself and all will work out just fine.
RIDE x CREATE
BAD
GOOD
