Every year, on their anniversary, my husband and I take my daughter and her boyfriend out for a mini photoshoot. They are so sweet together. And while this last photo shoot commemorated four years together, they are still the epitome of young love.
Lately, I have had some hiccups when it comes to film shooting. I dropped my film slide from my Hasselblad, and it bent. I wasn’t able to reinsert the slide for the rest of day. The whole roll ended up with some frustrating light leaks.
My Mamiya has been having some light leak problems as well. I took it in, and they couldn’t find the culprit. It wasn’t until I took in a roll with every image having the light leak that my repairman could find where it was coming from and repair it.
Then there was the roll I accidently left in the car for a week. I live in Southern California where the summer temps can be up to 100F. That roll was blank from the heat.
Film and I are no longer in the young love phase. When I started shooting film, every roll was an adventure; I had the patience to roll through the rough spots. Light leaks and broken cameras were something I had the energy to power through. Now I am finding myself being frustrated with these little bumps in the road. The newness is gone, and I seem to blame myself for every little mistake.
I need to get back to shooting for the love of it. I need to remember when I fell in love with film. I need to remember the rolls that come back full of magic. Because when it comes down to it, film makes my heart happy. It helps me see the world in all its beautiful shades, colors, and grains.
Do you find yourself frustrated with shooting? How do you keep the love alive? I’d love to hear where you find your inspiration in the comments.
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These are so gorgeous, Staci! They are adorable 🙂 Love how crisp these are.
One thing I do when I get frustrated with shooting is to go back to some of my favorite places and shoot there. Also, I’ve found that looking back at my favorite photographs helps as well.
Those are great ideas! Thank you!
I love the last one so much. They are absolutely beautiful. I haven’t been picking up my camera much lately. And it makes me sad. My girl is not in love with getting her photo taken as much anymore (starting high school) and we haven’t been doing our little road trips as much anymore (new job for hubby). I think some of these changes have something to do with it. But I find when I go back through my books and albums and see our how much we were doing and how well I was documenting our lives, it quite often makes my grab my camera a little more. I note some big empty spots in my latest project life album. It makes me 🙁 Your photos are continually inspiring to me.
PS. I have a spare hasselblad dark slide if you want one. I lost one 2 years ago when we went camping and ordered another off ebay. And then about a year later the one I thought I’d lost was found at the bottom of my camera bag jammed between some material. Haha – shows how often I clean out my camera bag. Let me know.
Thank you so much! I think we all go through seasons, don’t we. Thank you for your offer of the dark slide. I had an extra one at home that worked out. You are so kind.
I also have a hard time keeping my camera bag clean. I have “lost” so many lens caps in mine!
I know that feel!
These are so utterly gorgeous. Young love. Sigh.
Thank you! x
You captured these two so beautifully.
And I know if you are frustrated it’s hard to keep moving forward…
I have been loving some new photography podcasts lately. Listening to how people shoot, why they shoot, and their philosophy behind it all has been really inspiring – almost more so then seeing the actual work they are talking about.
Taking myself on a walk with only one camera/lens (especially one that I am not super in love with or comfortable with) has been good for me to stretch my practice in new way.
Beautiful images! I haven’t had the patience for shooting film, except for instant film. Somehow that instant reward keeps me coming back for more.