What do you mean when you say you shoot film?

There is a big misconception when I say I shoot film as most confuse it with videography. When I refer to film, I’m talking old school 35mm roll it up and develop it film. I get a lot of confusing looks and questions about it all the time so I thought I would write up a quick little blog post explaining my why behind it. If your not a reader skip to the bottom to see the difference between a digital image and a film image.

About 3 years ago I was really trying to hone in on my photography style, what appealed to me, what didn’t. While searching for my style I came across a few “hybrid” photographers and was intrigued as to what that was, I mean don’t you want to know what that is??? Browsing through their work my heart exploded as I fell in love with that look… what was it! How did their images look so perfect and exactly what I wanted to achieve all this time? The answer… you guessed it, film! A hybrid photographer is one who shoots with both digital camera as well as the traditional film camera. I knew right then that I wanted to learn and do just that. So I quickly jumped on an intro to film workshop by Julie Paisley (if you haven’t heard of her she is amazing and one of the very best photographers in the world!). Patiently waiting the months until her workshop I found a cheap AE1 Canon 35mm film camera and put in my first roll…. that is when magic would happen! Ha yeah right, that is when I had a moment of “I cannot do this, it is too hard, over my head, run for the hills!” My first roll I shot… I did not know what I was doing and ended up literally ripping apart the film trying to rewind it! I thought great this is just not going to happen! My first shoot with film that I was able to rewind was a total bust it was really dark, out of focus, way off (later found out it was a camera issue with the focus thing not just me!) Then at the workshop Julie handed me her 35mm, it was different, it was easy, it shot and was in focus and felt just like my digital but even better because it was film!!! I did it and I had an aha moment that yes I could do this, I just needed a better film camera! The gear part was the easy part to figure out… next came the metering your light… over my head once again but I’ve got that figured out now (thanks to getting to see Julie a second time in Hawaii last year!).

Now I can’t just drop off my film at the local photo place to be developed because that is where skill is needed to make sure it is done properly, professionally and put into an awesome high-resolution digital file for my clients. At first, I was stuck sending it to the US because there was not a place here in Canada so the extra postage and exchange rate made it not so dreamy but now there is an amazing lab in Canada, The Canadian Film Lab and they have been the best to work with! So once I shoot about 6-10 rolls I package it up and send it to them to wait patiently for that email to come through so I can be like a kid on Christmas morning seeing my vision come to life!

Why shoot it if it takes longer, costs more? Well, the answer is this… It outperforms my professional digital camera in mid sun any day! Film handles overexposure better than any digital camera. The skin tones on the skin are exactly what my style is, I don’t like orange or yellow edits on the skin, I like perfect peach tones and that is what film delivers. I obviously still shoot with my digital and sometimes the situation isn’t ideal for film so I do still need to have that backup but when I get to shoot with my film cameras something comes alive in me and I just fall more in love with photography because of it. I don’t take 388 photos of the same shot because that would cost me a fortune, I take the right amount of photos and if I run out I just reload my camera with more film! Film just makes me feel more creative and gives me something to always look forward to!

My favorite film is Portra 800… love the way it captures everything! I have 2 35mm canon film cameras, I used to have a medium format film one but it was just too heavy and a lot more expensive… one day I hope to have a medium format again but for now I’m so content with my 35mm ones! I have shot a few rolls of black and white film, while I love it I just found it took forever to get through a roll which now is why I have 2 film cameras, I plan to keep a black and white loaded in one and color in the other.

This image is shot on my digital camera… not bad right?

grande prairie photographer, lake Louise, chiffon skirt