I was recently in the market for a smaller camera that I can use as an everyday carry when Andrew is traveling and I’m on my own with our dogs. I love my X-T5, but I find it to be a bit too cumbersome to have bouncing around on my neck when I’m on my own on our walks and hikes. I would also hate to lose my footing on a walk around the neighborhood and compromise my main camera on such a mundane outing. That means I usually leave home without a camera, and end up regretting it. 

Recently, I’ve been carrying my LUMIX GF1, a micro four thirds camera from 2009. It’s the one camera that I kept when I sold my MFT gear when switching to Fuji, along with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II. And while it’s still a perfectly capable camera for everyday photography, it’s definitely showing its age. I find it just a little too slow to keep up with the faster pace my dogs demand, and its lack of viewfinder means that composing and taking photos takes me a bit longer than I’d like. It’s more suited to solo photo walks where I can give each frame the time it needs.

 

I landed on the Fujifilm X-E2, which is from 2013. Old, by most standards, but perfectly suited for my use case. This model has the addition of phase detect autofocus, rather than solely relying on contrast based autofocus like the X-E1, and I find it to keep up quite well. I took many photos during my initial walks with it where I’d shoot from the hip and fire off shots in quick succession to see how it kept up. I also took many, many photos of Wednesday as we played fetch at the dog park, and it didn’t miss focus once. I’m not going to be doing any wildlife or motorsports photography with it, but it can clearly keep up in the areas I need it to. 

 

 

 

Since moving here and first visiting our shopping mall, I’ve felt the need to photograph the desolate, near liminal space. Something about the empty hallways interspersed with skylights and (real!) foliage brings on a certain type of melancholic nostalgia. I recently made a trip there for the purpose of shooting some of the areas that always seem to grab my attention. 

I decided to start slow. I thought exterior shots would be easier, considering there was no one else there, but it actually felt a lot more intimidating once I got out of my car. Although the mall is pretty empty, there was still security doing rounds and I was right next to a fairly busy street. I was relieved to see that security didn’t seem to mind my walking around and taking photos and I eventually got comfortable enough to really get into the swing of things.

The tattered paper on the inside of these doors unsettles me, yet I can never look away.

With the mall being as empty as it is, I was really self conscious on this outing— a lot more self conscious than I normally am when shooting in public. And because I was shooting film, the camera I was using wasn’t the most inconspicuous, either. In more crowded spaces I’m able to melt into the crowd. However, I was one of the few people walking around in that big, open space. I felt as if I was on display as I composed each shot. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I suppose I just want you to know that I’m proud of myself for not skimping out and forcing myself to take my time in getting the photos I wanted to get. (Though I was really tempted to spray and pray and call it a day.) 

The mall may be dead, but these plants are not.

We’re always sure to grab a slice at the local pizza place inside our mall. It’s genuinely great pizza and it feels like an appropriate nod to my adolescence, hanging out at the food court with my friends or on family shopping trips.

I don’t remember why I chose to shoot black and white on this day, but I’m happy with how it turned out. There isn’t much color in our mall to begin with, and I knew that the angles and shadows were what I was aiming to capture. Although I’m happy with the photos overall, if I had to do this over I’d choose an orthochromatic film stock instead of panchromatic. 

These photos were taken on a Canon 35mm SLR with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. My film stock of choice was, as the title suggests, Kentmere Pan 400. 

This batch of film was processed and scanned by State Film Lab. 

I have quite a few rolls of film that I’m in the middle of working on, and another batch about to be sent out, so look out for more regular posts on here in the near future!

I took my X-370 with me on a hike late last summer/early autumn. I was primarily shooting with my G95 on this hike, and I only switched to film as I was leaving. While I do like many of the shots I got, I'm so mad at myself for not realizing how filthy my lens was. I have a handful of other photos that I didn't include because the grime on my lens really affected image quality. I'm trying to not beat myself up about these as they are just test rolls, but it's frustrating that the biggest impact on many of these photos was simply negligence on my part-- and for something so basic, too!

I bet the man fishing would be a more obvious subject, had I just cleaned the lens. -_-

This is a really old shot from back when we still lived in Alabama. I honestly just really like the colors.

I'm pretty sure this is from my first apartment when I first moved to Alabama back in 2016.

I remember timing the canoe and still hesitating when taking this shot, which resulted in the canoe not being properly framed between the two trees. Had I taken the shot a second or two sooner, the tree on the left wouldn't be interfering with the subject.

Hesitation was the name of the game with many of these shots. My intention was to capture the girl walking her dog right as they walked by me, but I got flustered and waited almost 30 seconds before deciding to turn around and get whatever shot I could. I don't hate this shot, though. I like the couple crossing the sidewalk in addition to the girl walking her dog. It adds more action and layers to the photos. Though I'm sure that it would be a more compelling photo had I been more deliberate about it.

This is one of my favorite shots from the 9 rolls I sent in. I love the contrast of the tree line against the snow and sky, with the person's white coat in sharp contrast to the trees. Unfortunately, the 28mm lens I had on my X-370 was too wide to capture the scene the way I envisioned it.

I quite like the framing of this shot, but the lack of leaves on the trees makes it a bit busier and messier than I would prefer.

These last two black and white shots were taken with Ilford HP5, and are among the oldest rolls that I got processed. These rolls had been sitting in my camera bag for close to 8 years before I finally sent them in.

Since getting those rolls processed and scanned, I've also come into a Nikon F3, a birthday present to myself this year. I'm currently finishing up my second test roll in it, and I'm excited (and nervous) to see how those rolls turn out. I've been consistently shooting film since that day in December, and I can't wait to share more. 

Processed and scanned by Indie Film Lab in Montgomery, AL.

Scanned with a Noritsu HS-1300. 

Check them out here!