Film Fridays - Los Angeles 35mm Photography

Traveling to Florida for the holidays means I got behind on doing a year-end wrap up post that I had planned. However, I still got back in time to do another Film Fridays post for New Year's Eve. This shot was from the first wedding I ever photographed back in 2008. I'd had my DSLR camera for about three months and was  loving it, but I also brought along my 35mm SLR to take some film photos as well. This champagne shot is from the reception and seemed perfectly fitting for celebrating the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.

And speaking of New Year's, I was going to pass on resolutions this year. I did a lot of things I wanted to do last year without having explicit resolutions and I kind of liked not having the pressure. However, I suddenly and tragically lost a friend last week and I've been reflecting a lot on memories of him and missed opportunities to spend more time together. He was a photographer as well and one of his quotes that recently came to my attention was "I shoot film. Occasionally I have the rolls developed." We always talked about going out to take photos together with our toy cameras, but I'm sad to say we never got around to it. So in his honor, my resolution for 2011 is to take more photos on film, of and with people I care about, and develop and share them frequently. Thanks for all the inspiration, Scott. You are loved, missed, and celebrated.

Me + Cameras = Happy

So now that I like to fancy myself a photographer, it seemed only fitting to have some pictures of me with cameras. That's what photographers do, right? But which camera should I have in the photo - the one I can do the most with, the one I carry around the most often, the one that looks the coolest? At this point, I currently own 6 cameras, so there are quite a few options to choose from. I decided to have fun and take pictures with all the different cameras to show off my collection! And also show off my new haircut.

The Canon EOS 50E - a 35mm (i.e. real film) SLR camera. I love the way true black and white film looks and this camera is great for shooting that.

The Canon PowerShot A540 - my first digital camera! This little guy is very compact and takes great daylight pictures. The screen on the back is a great size, bigger than my other digitals, and it's small enough that it's really easy to use for quick shots that don't need anything too fancy.

                                      

The Canon PowerShot S3 IS - this is an advanced Point and Shoot camera. It has more options than the A540 and so it gets a lot more use lately.  It's not considered a "professional" camera, which means I can take it into concerts, and it's lightweight enough to carry around in my purse every day. I bought this camera before our trip to Ireland last summer, and it's perfect for traveling.

Okay, technically this camera doesn't work. Well, the camera would work, but it's a vintage Kodak from the 1950s and they apparently don't make film for it anymore. Which is a shame because it's in great, working condition and I bet photos from it would look cool. I love the accordian-style box part of it and think that makes it worth keeping as a prop even if I never get to use it for anything else. 

The Holga 120 TLR - the newest addition to the camera family! I just got this Holga as a birthday present and I'm hoping to shoot with it this weekend. It's a plastic, "toy" camera that takes retro-looking 6 x 6 square film pictures. And the flash "flashes" in white, yellow, red or blue. Should make for some very interesting shots, so be on the lookout.

The Canon 20D - this one is kind of my baby. A digital SLR that I bought used in 2008, but was a splurge for me at the time. This was the camera I used for my photography class last summer and I really learned a lot with it. It's heavier and bulkier than the S3, so I don't carry it around every day, but I can use all my different lenses on it, so it's great for any kind of advanced shooting. It has the Lensbaby lens on it in this picture.