When I was a kid, I remember my dad developing photos at home. It was the beginning of the 90’s, so I was about 5-6 years old then. The kitchen was turned into a darkroom. There were some gadgets that were about the size of me at the time, some red light somewhere and for some reason I vividly remember the red and orange developing tanks that he used. The kitchen door had to be shut, so there wouldn’t be any exposure to light, but I usually snuck myself in there, because I was always very curious about what my dad was up to. I always wanted to be the “assistant” – whether he was developing photos or doing some renovations around the house or pouring concrete in the garden etc, I wanted to have my part in it.
I’ve been into photography in more detail for some years now, but recently I felt like I wanted to have a little change from the everyday digital photography I am so used to, so I thought I’d do some “time travelling” and go back to film for a change. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll still continue shooting digital on a daily basis, but this is more of a side project. Something for the soul. Something for the more creative side of me.
I got myself an old analogue camera from an antique shop – a fully manual Smena 8M. Smena is a series of 35 mm film cameras manufactured in Russia by the LOMO factory – Smena 8M is one of their most common ones, which was produced between 1970-1995. I seem to have the 2nd version meant for export as the name is printed on it in Roman characters and not in Cyrillic.
I ordered it from an online antique shop, so I didn’t exactly know what I’m going to get, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I received it. The camera came with the original box and it even has the original warranty slip! Even though my Russian skills are very rusty, I could still read out that the camera was produced in 1971! Which makes it wayyyy older than I am! And it is in very good condition and works very well. When I showed my dad what I’d got, he said he had had the same type of camera a couple of decades ago. :)
It was somewhat weird shooting with this camera. It is fully manual – from focusing to (re)winding the film – everything is manual. Focusing the shot is a bit of a lottery, because unlike digital cameras, the oldies don’t offer the opportunity to let you see in the viewfinder if or what you’ve focused on. By estimating the distance to the subject, you’ll just have to guess which setting is most suitable. And that’s what I really like about film photography – the uncertainty. The authenticity. The real feel. You don’t know if you got the shutter speed and aperture settings right. You don’t know if you got the focus right. You don’t know what you get, until you’ve developed the photos. And then those few days of anticipation once you’ve taken the film roll to the shop and then wait for it to be developed – exciting!
When I 1st thought about experimenting with film photography, I instantly knew, I’m going to use a black and white film – whoever’s read some of my previous posts know how much I love black and white photos! I used the Ilford Delta 100 film first. Ok well, if I am completely honest, 1st I used the Ilford Delta 400 film, but I screwed that up… I forgot to hold down the shutter release button when rewinding the film, so even though it felt like it was rewinding, it wasn’t, so when I opened the cover to retrieve the film, I exposed the film to light and gone they were… Which is a shame, because I know there were some really good shots. But mistakes make us human, right?! So I just got another film and tried again and here’s some of what came out:
I really like the multiple exposure shots! I find them very artistic, so I will probably do a lot of those in the future. Might try out some with colour film as well at some point to see how they turn out.
When it comes to digital photography, it’s quite easy to get the “perfect” picture. Even when you don’t get the shot right at first try, you can easily adjust the settings and snap another one (or 10 or 20 more) or just edit the photo later with Photoshop. Film photography doesn’t really offer you that kind of possibility and that’s what I love about it – you don’t know what you get until the photos are developed. With film you usually only have up to 36 shots, so you put in a bit of extra effort to get the shot as “right” as possible on 1st attempt. I put the “right” in quotation marks, because for me, photography isn’t about perfection. It’s about the feeling that the photo emits, not about having all the settings “right”.
One of the main reason why I wanted to go back to film photography is that you have to get the film developed to see the results, because the trouble with me is that I make quite a lot of photos, but most of them just stay on a hard-drive. I rarely get them developed, which is a shame, because it’s sometimes so nice to just take an album and scroll through some old memories.
For the same reason I got myself an instant camera as well. With a polaroid camera, you get the photo instantly. Might not be the best quality photos, but I think it’s the memory that counts. No matter how blurry the photo, if you had fun once you took it, seeing that blur will instantly give you a smile, doesn’t it?!
I will definitely continue shooting film, because I find it so much fun. It’s given me a much needed creative boost. And now I’ve sort of developed a fascination in old cameras.. Strolled through some antique shops the other day and saw loads of different old film cameras available for purchase. I think I’ll definitely keep this old Smena camera in my purse at all times, because you never know when you might stumble upon a great shot. For now at least, I’ll stick to black and white, when it comes to film. I just love black and white photos. There’s just something magical about them. I’ve written about colour and why I love B&W photos so much in one of my posts a couple of months back, so go have a read if you haven’t yet -> the Perfect Lie.
I’m in an experimenting state of mind at the moment and got lots of new mini-project ideas. I really want to try and develop the photos at home myself too instead of taking the film to some shop. Don’t know when I’ll get around to do that yet, because I’m going to need some gadgets for that..but it’s definitely on my to-do list!..also kind of want to get another vintage camera that has a changeable lens instead of a built-in one…kind of also want to start collecting old cameras (only the ones that actually still work though)…and then a sort of an “off-topic” idea, which has been cooking in my head for a long time now, but haven’t got around to actually doing it – I also kind of want to try and shoot some videos. I have a little idea of what about, so let’s see how that works out..
Until next time,
A.
PS! If you ever happen to stop by Tallinn, I recommend a visit to the new Fotografiska museum in Telliskivi Creative City. For a few more days they have a Jimmy Nelson’s “Homage to Humanity” exhibition up, which I really enjoyed, but there’s also other exhibitions (coming) up that are worth a look.
AT VISUALS PHOTOGRAPHY 