Once upon a time our family albums were filled with imperfect, sometimes blurry, always nostalgic photos produced by the magic of film. If you’re like me, you’ve probably poured over your parents or grandparents albums feeling like you were transported back in time.
In 2017, I picked up my old 35mm camera and started to take pictures just for pleasure. I take thousands of photos a week with my digital camera, so I wanted to slow down and photograph with more intention. I have to tell you… waiting for my scans to come back from the lab felt almost like Christmas. As I experimented and tried new films I also learned more about the unique character of various stocks, some more grainy, some more pastel, some more creamy and warm. Each can suit a different mood or emotion and gave me a different canvas to express myself.
As time went on, I started to incorporate film into my wedding photography… shooting a roll or two just as a bonus and I LOVED the results. Digital photography is pretty darned near perfect, but it lacks the poetry of analog. If you follow the photography world, you’ll know that there are all kinds of ways you can try to edit your photos to *look* like film… but no one has ever been able to truly duplicate the mystical quality that analog chemistry produces.
That’s why I’m now very excited to start offering a choice of film, digital or a combination of both with any of my family and baby portrait sessions. For these test portraits, I brought along four different film stocks and I love how each evokes a completely different feeling. I’ve written out some observations for those who are interested.
This photo reminds me so much of the family photo albums of yesteryear, so I’m sharing it first. By today’s standards, this might be a throw-away picture since it’s a blurry. But, as a film frame, I think it’s perfect (even though the blur was accidental). I intentionally over-exposed this frame, allowing two more stops of light into the camera giving it a more dreamy quality. The film is Kodak Vision3 250d – a motion picture stock that was adapted for 35mm cameras. Unlike most color negative film, this needs to be developed with motion picture chemicals so I needed to send it to the only lab I know in Canada that offers the service – Flick Film in Alberta. They also sell this film under their own brand labeled: “Cinefilm 250D”.
If you want to see how vastly different the colors render, scroll down to see other photos taken at this very same door, but with Kodak Portra 400 film. But, in the meantime, let’s head back indoors for some documentary photos in (sort of) black and white. I say “sort of” because, although these photos look black and white, they are actually taken with “chromogenic” film, meaning it uses dyes rather than silver to create images, allowing it to be processed at any standardcolor C-41 chemistry. This set was created with my medium format Pentax 645nii camera and developed by my favourite film lab, The Canadian Film Lab based in Hope, BC. They customize your scans to your taste and I love how these turned out. For these, I underexposed by around two stops, and had it pushed by one stop (allowing the film to sit in chemistry for a little longer).
Now, on to some of the Kodak Portra 400 and 800 photos, which were also developed and scanned by the lovely folks at the Canadian Film Lab. Both the house and the rainforest near the family cottage in Mill Bay were fairly dark, so I also had the film pushed by one stop to allow a longer developing time. Again, check out the difference in the color of that purple door from this stock versus the motion picture stock used in the first photo.
And last, but not least, here are a few more from the Kodak Vision 3 motion picture stock. It’s probably not something I’ll use often, unless someone wants to go for a very retro look, but I really loved how these photos made me feel like we’re living in the late 1970s.
In Victoria, we’re pretty fortunate to have several stores that still sell film, including Kerrisdale, London Drugs, and… best of all… Camera Traders. Located in Market Square, Camera Traders has a fridge loaded with so many unique films it would make your head spin. That’s where I bought all of the rolls used for this family portrait test shoot. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping in for a visit. The entire shop feels like a living museum, but one where you can go home with the items!
