2021

I started the year kind of burned out on taking photos. After a year of the pandemic, I hadn’t really gone anywhere and working from home meant that there was little of the day-to-day opportunity to explore the town. So I shot very little.

Then about half way through the year, I decided to try different film stock to get myself out of the slump. I rediscovered color dabbling with Lomography‘s 400 and 800 color negative as well as their Metropolis. I also loaded up on different black and white film, including the new Acros II and film from CineStill – 800t, BWXX – though I’ve yet to get to them.

And I see lots of possibilities for the super high contrast of Japan Camera Hunter‘s Streetpan 400.

I didn’t stop shooting black and white, but shooting color in 35mm when I’d mainly used the medium for 120 gave me a new way to see a familiar landscape.

So I’ve given over a shelf in my fridge to this hoard of film – both 35mm and 120. And while winter doesn’t offer the best light, I’m eager to continue shooting in the new year. I usually shoot 120 only when I”m traveling but I think I’ve found some shots locally that I’d like to try.

I’ve also decided to get back into developing my own black and white, something I haven’t done since I was in school, and have started DSLR scanning some of the old slides in my binder, some dating back to the 70s (the colors from Kodachrome and Ektachrome are amazing and require no real adjustment once they’ve been uploaded).

I leave you with best wishes for the new year.

Here are some of the highlights – in no particular order – from another year of shooting film: