I recently added a Contax 645 medium format film camera to my family of Canon digitals and I am in love. I’ll admit that I had no idea what to do with it when it first arrived. Who am I kidding? I still don’t really know what to do with it. When I went to buy film, I sweetly asked the guy if he could show me how to load the film because the last time I used a film camera all I had to do was just pop a cartridge into my brick of a point and shoot. Remember those? Thankfully, he obliged.
I shot frames here and there and although I had no idea how the shots were turning out, I was already in love with the process of shooting film. It makes you slow down and really think about each frame you shoot. And something about that feels so artful. I missed shooting for me and the Contax brought that joy and excitement back. I’m learning. I’m discovering. And I’m enjoying the process even with all the mistakes and uncertainty. I’m also learning to be patient. Digital is all about instant gratification. I can view it immediately, download my cards as soon as I get home, upload files asap. Film is a bit of a waiting game and I’m trying to be a bit more zen about the process. Because in reality, a week and a half after I’d sent my film to the lab I was convinced that it had gotten lost in the mail and was quite depressed about it. I know, such a drama queen. I have my second roll of exposed film ready to be sent in and I don’t even remember what’s on it. Getting those images back will be like a little surprise.
A few shots from my first roll that I got back from Richard Photo Lab this week.
I told you Akira likes to hang out on this stair landing. I’m really digging the softness of this shot compared to the digital version I posted not too long ago.
Here’s a couple of Linda and her sweet little Sophie at Mochilato in Irvine. Look at how tiny Sophie is!
I want to thank my friend Brandon Gresham for answering my spaz-tastic emails regarding shooting film, Jonathan Canlas for being such an open book of awesomeness on his formspring page, and Michael Norwood for making dreams come true. 
He gave me the info I needed to access my photos from Richard Photo Lab’s FTP site because you know, I couldn’t wait until morning to contact Richard Photo Lab for the info. I’m working on that whole zen-patience thing, but thank goodness for twitter & helpful friends.
