Rekindling my Photography with Film.


 
TMax 400shot with the YashicaMat 


 

This past winter I’ve had a major resurgence in my love for photography. Without a doubt it’s because I started shooting film. To be fair, I never stopped shooting film completely, but over the past few years I’ve maybe shot 3 or 4 rolls a year. Either with my YashicaMat 120 camera or the Nikon F4s 35mm camera. So  far this year I’ve shot about a dozen rolls and it’s only April. Now with the recent acquisition of my Hasselblad 500C, I’m completely obsessed. I have a steady stream of new film showing up in the mailbox and a steady stream of exposed film going off to The Darkroom in California for development. Here’s the thing for me, I absolutely love the look of a medium format film image, even more so with the Hasselblad. The whole process is pure magic. You pick out a film stock and place your order. Wait a week for it to arrive from The Film Photography Project. You pour yourself a glass of bourbon. Set your 59 year old Hasselblad in front of you. It’s not only the most beautiful camera ever made, it’s the most beautiful “anything” ever made. You carefully load the roll of film into its stunning black and chrome film holder. Go out and shoot 12 images. Unload the film. Send it off to California. Wait anxiously for a week and a half. Then your images show up in an email. The most exciting email you’ll get all week. Download your images to your computer or phone and order prints, if you like, of your favorites from your own personal storage page that they set up for you. The whole process is the exact opposite of everything that’s wrong in the world. I’m one hundred percent smitten with my new Hasselblad and I don’t care who knows it. I’ll still use my mirrorless camera for wildlife but I’ll be shooting everything else with film. 



Kodak Gold 200 shot with the YashicaMat 



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