When shooting with a manual advance film camera, I almost always take photos before my camera hits zero on the frame counter. Sometimes this results in accidental works of art. Lately, I’ve been interested in playing around with the “first of the roll” with my Pentax K1000.

Basically, I take notice now when loading my film and before I hit the “0” on my frame counter. I used to simply press the shutter and advance the film until I arrived at zero. Now, I actually compose the image before I advance the film.

These partial images are like magic to me. Part light leak, part real life. It’s an interesting composition and stretches the eye to fill in the rest of the image.

I can never quite gauge how much of the image will be captured, but it’s fun to play around around with!

Do you ever take notice of the first of the roll?

For more inspiration, there is an entire Instagram account dedicated to the effect.

~Azzari