I’m a digital man, but that wasn’t always so. There were days when I would spend hours in a dark room under red lights, breathing in toxic chemicals, losing my fingerprints for the love of those black-and-white images that would magically appear on smooth white paper. But it was also frustrating. And I love the ease of digital, the ability to view your images immediately. And mainly, its cheaper. Maybe there will be a day when I can use only film again, but for the time being, I’m ball-and-chained to technology.
Yesterday, however, my father offered me his old Konica. So I drove into Mishawaka and found my way into a tiny camera store on main street. It was a strange little place. I felt like I might be one of two customers they would have all day. The other one was a man in his mid-thirties. I overheard him chatting with the clerk (who he seemed to know well). The man was working 75 hours a week after having picked up a second job in the evenings. It struck me how much the economy is effecting the hard-working midwesterners I grew up around. But he was clutching his camera, an ancient Minolta I believe. I thought about how different that man and I are. But we’re both photographers. He with his aged film camera, me with my digital. It made me excited to work with film again.
I bought some 3200 speed black and white and a roll of Velvia color slide film. We’ll see how things go, but I can tell you I sufficiently creeped my family out today aiming the camera at them and then spending about 30 seconds manually focusing and exposing that precious film. It takes a lot more time to set up a shot when you only get a few chances at it.
Gene’s Camera Store:
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Some shots I took (in the digital persuasion) outside of the little camera store:
I’d love to see some of those shots of your family! How are they all doing?
they’re doing great! loving their new home…