Seattle Family Photos on film!

Yes, you read the title right.  I’m shooting a bit of film again.  Why, you ask?  Several reasons.  Film is where I first got started.  Film is the first photography medium I fell in love with.  I remember the delight in shooting  a roll then going to my photography class in Georgia where I learned how to develop and process film.  I remember looking through all the negatives on a light table to see the images, then printing my favorites in the darkroom.

Everything was done at a slower pace.  It wasn’t instantaneous (and voluminous) like digital.  Between pressing the shutter to developing my negatives, I had time for feelings like anticipation and nervousness, then glee (or sometimes heartache) to take over with each newly developed roll.

Shooting a bit of film again is causing me to slow down.  To be more deliberate when I press the shutter button instead of holding the shutter down and overshooting.  Its helping me think more about each shot and what I’m trying to accomplish .  Look at the light more thoroughly.   It is challenging me again.

Along with that, I had forgotten how film can still record light and highlights so much better than digital.  It has this crazy latitude with capturing highlights and shadows, and I was curious.  I just want to compare the quality.  Film greats like Elizabeth Messina and Jose Villa and Jonathan Canlas swear by it, but can I, a regular ol’ portrait photographer in Seattle accomplish the same results?

Oh and one last major perk:  It cuts down my processing time on the computer!

So this roll is Portra 400 taken with a medium format camera, the Pentax 645N.  It was developed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab.  I’ve become friends with some other lovely ladies who are also film shooters in the film-mama online community.  We are all inspired by film so we’re doing a monthly blog circle.  After you check out my images, continue to be inspired by checking out what Jacqueline Rose Photography has shared in her film post here.

Thanks for looking!