I was not great with film; it taught me a lot about composition but very little about the technical aspects of shooting, metering for light and aperture and shutter speed. I spent about five months having no idea what was going on before Ash very patiently explained some things to me, and I still mucked a whole lot of shit up before I got better at it. I didn’t figure out how to eye my light metering until I got the dSLR and could immediately see my results and adjust without wasting a shot. These days, mostly I don’t have to take a test shot to know my metering is correct, and that’s a big step forward.
But sometimes, sometimes I could see what I was aiming for in my film shots, and that makes me feel more kindly toward myself, and I can see how I’ve gotten from where I was to where I am. This is a shot from July 2008, a roll I just had developed, and it’s not perfect, but I like it. It’s almost something remarkable, and that’s the best I ever hope for with film.
For the record, though, the Rite-Aid at 54 and 751 in Durham is full of jerks who do bad film work. They’re super cheap, but they’re also jerks.
brand new kind of photography 