These are from May 1 when the girls and I met "the other Kate and Caroline" for a photo play date. Here is the digital post from that day. I'll share the rest of this roll in a separate post.
Kodak Portra 400, rated at box speed
Nikon N80 + 50mm f/1.8G lens
Developed/Scanned by Indie Film Lab (large scans)
Aren't the colors amazing?? And I didn't do a thing to them!
We had a great time at the park last week for play time and a picnic with our Lens Baby playgroup friends!
Kodak Gold 400 (extremely expired... maybe 10+ years old?)
Developed/Scanned at Walgreens
On my list of photography goals for this year was to buy a Nikon film camera and at least "play" with film. At this point I don't have goals beyond that, but playing sure is fun!
I wanted to buy an F100, but when I when I was able to scoop up an N80 for just $9, I didn't hesitate! The great thing about having a Nikon is that I can use all of my lenses with it.
This is my first roll. I made a ton of mistakes, and I missed focus a lot the first couple of times I shot with it. There are just 5 focal points on this camera, and since I am not used to using focus and recompose all the time, I messed up a lot! That also explains some strange compositions you'll see - - I was trying to catch the moment and just haven't put it all together yet with the new camera. :)
I find it very difficult so far to use film on toddlers; I am waiting for the right moment to press the shutter but end up missing that moment. I need practice!
Film: Portra 400, rated at 200 and overexposed an additional 1 to 2 stops (most of the time!)
Developed/Scanned by Indie Film Lab (w/ corrections); NO further editing done
March 4-
This was after Kate's dance class. I had just received my film in the mail and wanted to give it a go! We stopped at the outskirts of the Stonebridge Golf Course for these. There were several others that would have been really neat had my focus not been completely off! Here are a couple though- blinking in one and hand chopped in the other, but the light is pretty! :)
After the golf course stop, we headed home. Anytime we're traveling north through town, we take a detour on Gray Branch Rd (off of Ridge before 380). There are some beautiful trees and lovely homes as well as stables and pastures with horses and mules. I drive 2 mph down this road as we stop to look at everything. We've been doing this for over a year, but on this day, there was a man out feeding the horses right at the road. We were creeping along as usual, and he waved me over. I turned the car around, and he invited us to get out and help him feed the horses! Kate was very timid about actually giving the horses the treats, but thoroughly enjoyed herself. Caroline was all over the place as usual.
I did not have my digital camera in the car - the film camera and my 85mm was all I had, so that's what I used! I did not want to miss out on these shots. This is also the main reason I did not do "straight scans" with the film lab. If I messed up my exposure, I really wanted these to be saved. The 85mm was definitely a challenging focal length, too; I had to back up way too much, and it just couldn't always be done (so a few more weird compositions and chops here too)!
Kate LOVED the miniature mule, "Jackson." Every time we drive down Gray Branch Rd now, we always look for him. Kate is convinced he just hasn't grown up yet. :)
Kate and Daddy mending the fence (March 9?) using the 50mm-
A Lens Baby playdate at the Arboretum (March 13) probably using the 50 again-
A few from Easter weekend at the Carlsons' house (March 29-31) most likely used the 50 for all of these, too - 
So, even though these are far from perfect, I'm already dying to shoot again!
2. Rome. View from our balcony at the Waldorf.
*3. Florence. View of the duomo from our room.
*4. Florence. Top of the duomo.
*5. Florence. View from the top of the duomo (2).
6. Tuscany somewhere. Monsanto Winery.
7. Milan. Duomo. (This obviously just barely made it! Interesting all the same.)
*8. Milan. Glass covered shopping area adjacent to the duomo.
*9. Milan. View of the duomo through the shopping area arches. (This one's my favorite. I love the birds in flight. Can you see them?)
Here was my first Holga roll if you want to look back!
I think next time I'll try color. It's fun, even if my results are pretty sloppy!
I finished my first roll of 120 film in my Holga camera a couple of months ago, but I took forever to finally send it in. There are only a few that turned out even okay, but with a toy camera & medium format, they're really not supposed to be perfect. I could definitely use some practice, though! I'm asking Santa for more film in my stocking. :)
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{fun with film} My dad recently handed down my grandfather's "Argus Anastigmat" camera to me. I finally started loading the film in it a couple of days ago, and I realized I've never put film into a camera that didn't automatically advance it for me! My dad gave me a lesson, and it's ready to go now. I also finally loaded the Holga toy camera Nick and Kate got me for Mother's Day with 120mm medium format film. It's going to be very experimental at first; I'm not sure how all the settings dials work, and I'm very used to my digital camera showing the metering! I think it'll be good practice for photography in general. I'll be much more careful with each shot and pay more attention to what's in the frame. Looking forward to sharing these with you. Surely something will come out... or at least be interesting! |
Nick planned a wonderful day for me. After church we went to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano for a picnic lunch. We went home for brief naps, stopped over at the splash pad, and enjoyed early dinner at my mom and dad's house. It was a full, fun day!
Kate and Nick gave me a fun Holga camera and film. I'm so excited to read up on how to use it well (and start using it)!
Here are a few pics from today...