First Roll: Kodak Double X

Sometime early 2019 a friend and local photographer gifted me a roll of Kodak Double X. This film is a cinema film, yes the kind they use for Hollywood movies. Famous movies that have used this stock were Schindlers List and the opening scene to 007 Casino Royale. So my approach was to give a minor attempt in creating some cinematic stills, was I successful? Maybe. However I was extremely excited with the outcome of this first roll and I knew also I would attempt to photograph different people and different light times to see what this film looks like in all avenues. Sometimes I found it tough because this film is a 250 ISO film and I overexposed a bit with rating it at 200. The last few shots with Ellen I took were much slower shutter speeds and it was key not to mess up and get motion blur.

Conclusion: Would I buy this film again? Without a doubt, this film was fun to shoot and I think I would always try to get cinematic looks with it just because that would be a fun challenge to do. My only complaint though, its only in 35mm and not in medium format (120)

Ellen On Film

A few months ago I purchased a 1970's era Yashica Mat-124G. I had been really, really wanting a square format (6x6) so the right deal came up and I picked one up. Now this camera was a TLR (twin lens reflex), the same sort of camera that Vivan Maier used to create her street photography, portraits, self portraits etc. 

Now usually when I get a new camera, lens or whatever I have a few people I will ask to create some work with the new equipment. And in this gear test, it was my red headed friend Ellen. Now it was early December so it was freezing cold and Ellen told me she had this amazing window light in her living room. The rest was history. Now I did shoot some digital but I'm more interested in shooting more film this year, especially since I obtained my own chemistry to develop at home. (Real quick I'll tell those photo nerds who are curious. I shot with TriX 400, metered at 1600. Developed with Kodak HC-110)

As excited as I was to use this camera. I SOLD IT. 


Why? You'll see on my next blog post when I develop, scan the next roll of film!