First Rolls of Black and White Film
A couple of months ago, I picked up some Ilford HP5 400 film to try out in my recently acquired Minolta x700. I was a little hesitant to shoot it because I assumed I would come across something that I would really want on color film. But the depths of winter arrived and with the muted, brown colors, I decided to load up and shoot a few rolls. These are the first two sets of scans I've gotten back from the Darkroom Lab. Needless to say I'm hooked.
I'm not convinced on the grain yet, but the quality of the tones has me. Its really true that the film has more life to it. It feels more tactile. More three-dimensional. I'm not saying that I'm dumping the 5D mk III and the infrared camera to go full film, but I've got the bug, and I have to keep playing.
I haven't begun to get into doing landscape photography on film. I need a new filter adapter ring and a few new filters to make that happen, but for these more candid, street-style shots, there's just something that digital has lost. The tack-sharp lenses on my canon rarely miss, but missing the focus just slightly long draws me into the photos. It makes me want to look around the edges, deeper into the puddle. Or find that person casting the shadow.
It may not be the most practical thing to carry a film camera, especially since spring is on the horizon and the infrared will be back in the bag shortly, but I can't put it away. I just want to keep shooting.
