girls on film

Only a few times have I really felt the need to shoot film. Back when I used to shoot a lot, it was less about the actual medium and more about the finality of it. I had notice that when I shot, say 200 photos for something. (this is just a round number not factual) I would end up only keeping maybe 25-50. Which I looked at as a photography failure. I wanted to shoot more intentionally, and rely less on the fact that I had what felt like endless space on a memory card. Making each photo cost money, not being able to see and correct my mistakes at that moment, maybe not truly understanding my settings. All were things that drove me to be a better photographer. Not just to say “I shoot film.” Once I had felt satisfied, I pretty much ended it. Only shooting a couple of rolls a year for fun.

Last year, I shot my good fried, Chef Reuben Asaram. He was opening his shared space at Kampar. I decided to test out my ability to shoot film and flash together. This was not a TTL moment. But a 2 light setup off camera. After testing a few shots digitally I felt confident enough to run with it. The results were more than I had imagined. required very little cleaning up and were exposed as perfectly as I could ask 20 yr old film to behave. But again, I took it as “yes I know what Im doing!” and put the film away again.

This year, I decided to give it another go. This time for Chef Reuben’s first pop up of 2025! I shot two rolls of film with my old trusty Canon and tiny little Light Pix Labs mini flash off camera. I wanted to see how well I trained myself in a more dynamic situation. Once again, my doubts wee crushed when the film came back. I nailed it all again. This time on a much better modern film stock.

Sadly, the whole trial cost me nearly $200 to do it for fun, im not sure it’ll happen again any time soon. I do think that for this next coming issue of Stereo Flavors I may shoot it entirely own film. We’ll have to see how this cookie crumbles.