Shedding light on film photography
My first journey into photography began in my sophomore year of high school . As an elective i chose to take a photography course with a talented artist and photographer Mr. Milan as my teacher. At first, photography seemed so abstract and complex, I always wondered how the greatest photographers created amazing images of gorgeous landscapes and flawless models. In class, we learned to use a pin hole camera to understand exposure and the inner workings of a camera. We then learned how to load film in our cameras. My very first camera was a Minolta SRT100 model, I borrowed it from my now mother in law so I could take the course in school. I can still remember fumbling with the film and running several rolls of film in the process of learning to load and advance film. Once film was loaded and ready to go, I was free to capture the world through my perspective. In high school, there were may stresses trying to be accepted, but remain an individual . I captured the emotions of my friends and escaped my own reality then I was behind the camera. I wasn't the most skilled photographer by any means, but I was passionate and I had no shortage of vision. I learned to develop my film in a dark room from start to finish. The dark room was my happy place, it was my temple for creating masterpieces, I found peace and solitude there. I manually developed each and every image, being mindful not to under or over expose my pictures. I was always so impressed when a blank piece of photo paper transformed into a gorgeous picture while submerged in developing chemicals. This was when I fell in love, deeply and madly in love with the art of photography. I couldn't get enough time behind my camera or in the darkroom. Photography is more than documenting a moment in time , it is more than a picture of a person, place or thing. It is allowing others to view life from our own unique perspective. Just as a painter unveils his work on canvas, I paint a picture with the world around me. The earth is my canvas , the paint is the unique colors of our world, nature , people and everything in between are my subjects and the camera is my brush. Photography is art, and it is history , it is real and it is an illusion. It can be beautiful or unsettling, it can be joyous or sad. These are all emotions inherent in life itself . Capturing moments is like freezing time . Looking back on pictures is like time travel to a special moment that will never exist again, this is what makes photography so delicate and beautiful. As my passion for photography grew, I practiced more with different film cameras. I was gifted with a Canon AE-1 , and it quickly became my favorite. I could always be seen carrying around my camera , this is when I began my interest in street photography. I started by photographing everything I could, an insect on a plant , pastries in a Starbucks cafe, strangers on the bus. All the little overlooked details in everyday life were my favorite, because capturing them in a photo brought them to life and created a story through my eyes. Making the leap to a DSLR was difficult at first and I resisted a little, feeling like I was cheating because I could see the images and could endlessly snap away without having to be mindful of wasting film. I now use my Canon 6D DSLR for all of my client's photographs, but every now and then I bring out my old film camera and do some personal projects. I take it out around town and shoot street photography and it brings back a nostalgic memory of when I first stared my photography journey. I know that as an industry film photography is antiqu and outdated , no longer serving much purpose in the day and age of more advanced technology , but it will always hold a special place in my heart and will never be forgotten.
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