Lately, I really miss shooting on film.  It’s been quite awhile.  As soon as I got my first digital camera about 8 years ago, there was really no going back.  The convenience, simplicity and instant gratification of it all had me hooked.  But if you’ve ever shot film, then you already know what I’m about to tell you.  It’s beautiful.  There is something different about it.  The colors and the softness are unique only to film.  You can’t really recreate it. Then there’s it’s nostalgic quality.  You get to hold an actual photograph.  You get to drop off a roll of film and see what you get.  It’s exciting in a sense. (Often followed by disappointment when you had your settings wrong, or something was out of focus, but still.  Exciting.)

I often regret selling my 35mm, but it really was just gathering dust.  And I have the feeling if I bought another, the same thing would happen.  I have the best of intentions, but I know myself.

So instead of spending money on a new camera and a hundred rolls of film, I decided to sort of pretend I was shooting on film.  I used my smallest memory card – giving me about 40 exposures, covered up my display screen and took pictures of our day. The hardest part was not peeking at the screen.  I really wanted to make sure the pictures were turning out ok!!  But I held out and didn’t peek.  Then I dropped off my memory card at Costco and came back an hour later to pick up my real-life prints.

Here were a few of my favorites – straight from the camera of course.

If I had the choice to edit them, I would.  I would brighten, straighten,  and crop.  Not to mention adjust the white balance.  But I do love the photos for what they are too.  Nothing spectacular.  Just some moments from our day.  Isn’t that what photography is really about anyway?  There’s nothing manufactured about these. Simple and special in their own way.

I will be trying this again soon for sure.