Maybe it is the time of year....

At least once a year (and in the fall I think) I start to want to start shooting film again.  There are aspects of film that I truly miss.  The slower craftsman like approach to each exposure for one comes to mind.  This normally runs its course after I have shot a few rolls and have been faced with the wait for the lab to develop the film and then for me to have hi-res scans done of the best shots.  Ultimately I love the digital workflow.  Shoot in the morning, edit in the afternoon and send off to the lab to have beautiful finished work back in a few days... or even sometimes print myself.  The quality on digital is great and I have had digital prints done up to 30x40 inches.  So why get nostalgic for film at all?  For one thing I have some great medium format cameras with great lenses just waiting to be used.  I have decided that this year I would shoot film again, but only if I can not do something in digital.  I have found two cases that will allow me to use my favorite digital B&W lab Digital Silver Imaging (these guys are the best around) and produce images I can't get with my Canon 50D.  I have a film based panorama camera that I will shoot in B&W.  This is a fun camera and I look forward to knocking around the city with it.  For landscape... My old Fuji 6x9 rangefinder is coming out of retirement.  This old gem has great glass and produces negatives nearly seven times the size of a 35mm negative.  Shooting with the Fuji will help keep me snap too.  It is a manual focus camera with no meter.  I have gotten lazy about exposure and don't want to lose that muscle.  This can allow me to produce big beautiful B&W prints on traditional fiber based B&W paper and have the best of all worlds.  So look for me to start posting about what I am up to with my film cameras.  I will post the headaches and triumphs here on the blog every once in a while.  I now have a camera bag for my film cameras and one for my digital stuff.  I am heading to the Cape for a few days with my family so will start my journey back into film there.  Maybe some long time exposures by the ocean in Black and white would be fun.

This will be the year I start making a name for my self with the beauty of old fashioned B&W.

Keep Makin' Art!
Carl