I got my first film camera, little over a month ago. I ordered the Olympus XA2 from Japan, on Ebay. I wanted to get into film photography for a while. Something about having a physical album of pictures as a child felt really special. Looking back upon the images, really takes you back to the moment. In this day and age, the practice of having physical albums is slowly getting lost.
I want to have albums, so I can have something to look back upon and I want pass it down to my children and my grandchildren. Also, looking back at the pictures you’ve clicked makes you remember the exact moment you were in when you clicked that picture and just something about the images you click using a film camera make it look super cool and nostalgic.
Compared to digital camera where you can multiple pictures, film camera has only 36 rounds per film, which makes me super intentional about the pictures I take. I still like digital cameras, don’t get me wrong. I like it for casual photography but I prefer clicking pictures or capture moments I want to remember and look back upon.
So, I developed my first film this week. To put it lightly, it was very humbling. I’ve seen a ton of videos on film development. When I had the opportunity to do it, it was fun and it only increased the appreciation I had for film photography.
I’ll just describe the process in short for all of you who don’t know how it’s done.
In a pitch black dark room, you load your film onto a reel and place it into a light-tight developing tank (this was the hardest part). Then you pour in the developer to chemically reduce exposed halide crystals to metallic silver (image). Then we pour in water to stop this development process. We then pour in a fixer to remove the unexposed silver halides, making the image permanent and light-safe. Then we wash the film again, to get rid of the any remaining chemicals and then we just hang the film to dry. After that, we just scan it with the help of a scanner.
In the States, developing a film can cost you around 75$ per roll. But I have a photo club on campus which allowed to develop and scan my film for free. Joining this club, also introduced me to like minded individuals, who are just as passionate regarding film photography as me. I really had fun developing and scanning my first film.
Here are some of the pictures from my film:
Looking at the first scan of my film, there were these wonderful pictures with a hint of 90’s vibe to it. But there were a lot of pictures that didn’t turn out that great as well. I definitely learned some lessons as I definitely misclicked some of my pictures. I’m also currently experimenting with a bunch of different films, the pictures you’re looking at are clicked on Kodak Gold 200. Right now, I’m currently using Fujifilm Fujicolor Superia 400.
Thank you for reading.