I am so giddy about this post because it is the first in a new blog series I’m started that documents and catalogs my journey with film photography! I have always been inspired by film photos and brings back so much nostalgia because my entire childhood is preserved in print, thanks to my momma, and what makes this journey so special to me is that I’m using the camera that she used to capture my childhood! It is a 35mm Pentax K1000 and because this is well over 25+ years old since she first got it from my Dad, we weren’t even sure it was going to work. I’m sure you can imagine the butterflies in my stomach when I got my first roll back and saw that it, in fact, works!
I got these developed with The Darkroom and am SO pleased with how they turned out! It was around $30 to send in the roll, get one 4x6 of each photo on matte paper (which I LOVE! the paper they came on) and an awesome thing that they offer is you also get digital scans of your images!! This was definitely not a thing when I was growing up so it felt like a modern luxury to this experience! The scans look amazing, and when I compare them both side by side, the digitals almost look a little sharper! I love that this is an option to have both versions!
Right when I opened that white envelope that held the prints inside, I was washed over with this very familiar feeling of being 8 years old again. Seeing the negatives, and the summary sheet with an overview of every photo that was printed and can’t wait to see the bigger versions inside. I felt that same excitement that I felt when I was a kid. I have so many memories of pulling out HUGE boxes that were filled with these little white envelopes and all the memories that my mom would document and I would sit on the floor for hours looking at them. She would always make sure to remind me every time to “make sure you keep them in order!”
I have been a digital photographer for the last 8+ years but there is something so awe-inspiring about film photography. Knowing that you only have 30 or so shots on a roll, and you can’t see the result right after you hit the shutter, it makes you take things much slower. It makes you have to really decide if what you are about to snap a photo of is worth it to take up space on that roll, because you only have so many to take. It has made me more aware of taking a few extra seconds to find the perfect angle the first time, and really savor the beauty of what I’m about to capture.
I am so excited to be sharing my first collection of images that I developed, and can’t wait to see where this journey goes, and what I will capture next! Enjoy a few snapshots of when we visited Saugatuck, Michigan in the fall last year (the CUTEST little town and it was so dreamy during the autumn season), and also our most recent trip to Colorado for my 30th birthday! (you can read the recap post from Colorado HERE!)
