We all need a break. You’d think that I’d take a break from taking pictures over the holidays wouldn’t you? Well, no. I usually take the opportunity over the hols to shoot some film. Yes, film. Old school stuff. But I find the practice of shooting film slows me down and forces me to take more time over taking a picture which is no bad thing.
So I smiled to myself packing my extra ‘take home for the hols’ bag on Christmas Eve:
- My spare D700 to come home – not exactly state of the art anymore but it still takes stunning images in many very demanding conditions.
- My ‘new’ Hasselblad 500C – the market seems to have fallen out of medium format on eBay recently and I picked one up for the experience of using a larger image circle. Formerly the Pro Photographer’s Work Horse and still a lot of great glass and film area to play with.
- My new Lomo Spinner 360 – how much fun can you have with a 35mm negative? Regular readers will know I’m a Lomo fan and this was on special before Christmas.
We had a lot of fun with the spinner in the snow on Christmas Eve – some of them even came out! Remember that ‘wait and see what you got’ feature that you have with film?
I ran my first ever 120 film through the ‘blad on New Year’s Day – need to find someone to develop it now!
If there’s a message from this then it’s to do some personal work as well as all that other stuff: have some fun and enjoy your cameras – all of them. Each has its strengths and stretching your mind to use each for something different is good for your creativity.
Have a Happy New Year. Be creative and make some time to enjoy yourself a little more than you did in 2010.