On Film

 You may remember a short time back I bought a film SLR camera. A Canon EOS 1000F. Something I could only have dreamed of owning as a photography student at secondary school in the 90s, and yet I picked it up with a lens for around £30 on eBay.

Mother’s Day Lillie’s using the built in flash

It sat for a few weeks while I waited for the opportunity to take it out for a test run. That opportunity came the day we decided to go to York Minster. Loading up the camera I realised I’d made a rookie error. I’d bought ISO 200 film. Not a disaster but not ideal for the overcast day and definitely not for the interior of a medieval cathedral. Nonetheless, I was determined to try this camera out, so accepted that this roll would probably produce less than ideal results.

Boring skies, but check out the definition on the building 

Once I’d finished the roll I sent it to Leeds based, Take it easy Lab, and then I waited. Oh the thrill of waiting to see if you’ve got at least one decent image from that roll of 24. It took me back. I have to say, the lab were super fast. Once I’d actually posted the film off to them, they notified me they’d received it one morning and by that afternoon I was accessing my images on Dropbox. What a perfect amalgamation of analog and digital.

Do you know what? The images weren’t all that bad! Ok, so there are definitely improvements to be made, but not bad for my first time back behind an SLR in about 15 years.

These ones of the Morris Men (ironically they were from Coventry) are by far my favourite and demonstrate the exact reason I want to return to the world of film photography. No filters, just perfect imperfection. Atmosphere and something I can’t quantify that really makes me happy.

Needless to say, the next day I was back online ordering film for my next analog adventure.