Shooting Film Takes Time … To Be Continued

Using the Canon AE-1 film SLR (developed and sold between 1976-1984, before I was born) was a new and yet familiar experience. Our group planned a photo-session on campus to shoot two rolls of film, one expired b&w roll of film (more information about expired film) and one new roll of colored film purchase from Black’s. While the Canadian camera store still “continue[s] to develop and print film at volumes exceeding [their] expectations” (“Black’s”), they did not have a large selection of film for sale, and I resorted to buying their brand of film largely because the price included the cost of getting the film developed. Despite the convenience of having the cost of development included in the initial price, when I dropped off the film to be developed I was told that my film had to be shipped off to another location to be developed and will be available for pickup in several days. Therefore, in total, our one hour photo shoot on campus will have involved at least three visits to Black’s (possibly four, as the b&w film might take up to three weeks to get the prints) and at this point we do not yet have any photos to share. However, I was able to ordered the photos digitized to a CD as well as a set of prints, so assuming any photos turn out, I will be share some with some further commentary.

In addition to the inconvenience of multiple trips to Black’s and the cost of the film and development, the experience of taking photos was also slower and more deliberate. Admittedly, familiarity with the camera would have helped our speed, but in an hour we took less than 48 photos. Because of the cost of each exposure, we felt the need to take the time to select and frame our shots more carefully. Further, because of the manual setting, it was incumbent upon us to check the exposure settings (shutter speed and aperture) carefully each time. The importance of this was further impressed upon us, when I ruined several exposures by forgetting to adjust the ISO setting after changing film. One further minor inconvenience that our group experienced, have grown accustomed to digital cameras was that of advancing the film. We constantly forgot to wind the film, and as we passed the camera back and forth between group members there was much confusion.

Stay Tuned!!!! Once, I get the digital photos, I will write another blog post with photos and a commentary.