Isn't waiting the nicest thing?

robert blu

robert blu

quiet photographer
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In the last year I shot almost exclusively digital. Yes, shooting the M10 is very similar to shoot the M7!

Recently I wanted to see how my Summaron 28/5.6 works on film, so I took the M7 with this lens on and went for a short road trip (very short but an interesting area along the road) and shoot a few B&W films.

I also took opportunity to shoot a color film with the Summaron, just to see how light and colours work with this lens when shooting film.
Back home now but no time to develop (and scan) or time to go to my pro lab to drop the films. It will take a couple of weeks before I can do it.

Meantime I think, I try to remember what I shoot, I imagine how it all went.
Was the framing of the road under the trees shot with the right exposure? Did I frame in the correct way that old car covered by blanchets under a tree? and that few frames I tried against the light will be as desired with a special glow?

Maybe yes, maybe not. But I had forgotten this waiting time between the shot and the results...and I like it!

robert

PS: of course I know that for a pro photographer it is very different
PS N° 2: maybe I could be candidate for an MD... 🙂
 
There is nothing like receiving surprise gifts!
Film has inherent qualities and faults.
Digital basically has no character, but very workable files..
Film is used more carefully!
Even when I only had film for assignments, i was loath to shoot tons of film.
I even went to Medium format because the rolls were short,10~12~15 exp.
It also gave nicer contact sized prints!
Look forward to see what you did!
 
Last edited:
I agree with you Robert. I tend to develop when I feel like it rather than straight away, so sometimes it comes as quite a surprise to see what was on the roll 🙂. I have one roll of Kodachrome where I missed the Sammy's deadline, so now it sits forlornly as a mystery from at least 30 years ago!
 
That’s nothing, shoot film for a lifetime and only print the easiest ones that don’t take a lot of darkroom magic. Now fast forward up to half a century when you have the ability via scanning and software to get a decent image from the ones you skipped. I’m finding some gems that were beyond my printing ability using old school graded paper techniques.

During the seventies I did a lot of traveling. Six trips to India two of those around the world, all with Leica gear. After that my career shifted to oceanography and photos are from around the Pacific and at sea.

Delving into the archives can be full of surprises, especially when you realize how much things have changed. These days I sure wouldn’t be wandering down dark alley ways in places like Kabul looking for photos.

Glenn
 
robert blu said:
In the last year I shot almost exclusively digital. Yes, shooting the M10 is very similar to shoot the M7!

Recently I wanted to see how my Summaron 28/5.6 works on film, so I took the M7 with this lens on and went for a short road trip (very short but an interesting area along the road) and shoot a few B&W films.

I also took opportunity to shoot a color film with the Summaron, just to see how light and colours work with this lens when shooting film.
Back home now but no time to develop (and scan) or time to go to my pro lab to drop the films. It will take a couple of weeks before I can do it.

Meantime I think, I try to remember what I shoot, I imagine how it all went.
Was the framing of the road under the trees shot with the right exposure? Did I frame in the correct way that old car covered by blanchets under a tree? and that few frames I tried against the light will be as desired with a special glow?

Maybe yes, maybe not. But I had forgotten this waiting time between the shot and the results...and I like it!
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of trying to duplicate this sort of a thing on the m240. I put a Luigi case on it and I am going to shoot without using the screen. I will see if I can be disciplined enough to not remove the memory card until I have to swap batteries. With the battery life on the m240 this could be easily a few weeks depending upon how many shots I take at a time.

Not quite the same as film but closer than how I typically use digital. I supposed if I wanted to make it closer I could swap out memory cards when I change batteries and then throw the card into the fridge for a couple of more weeks. 😉

Shawn
 
It's not often I develop right after shooting. As a rule I develop on a crappy weather day and print in the winter when the days are short. I only scan the images I wish to share on the internet.

For me there is a benefit for waiting to print as I look at the images differently. Sometimes I find "keepers" that would have been discarded the first edit go around.

To Glenn's point I was doing some house cleaning and decided to get rid of my projector and trays. The trays were full of slides from 30+ years ago. It was interesting to look back at my photography from that era. Scanning them looks like a nice project for this winter.

Steve
 
I've been busy for a while, so much so that I've got half a roll exposed in my M6 and no idea what they are. Your post makes me eager to expose the rest and see what's there. I think it was Ruth Orkin who said it's like getting 36 Christmas presents.

John
 
Robert,

It occurs to me that we take everything for granted. When each day is a gift; when each person is a gift; and when the images we make are indeed a gift, we should treat them as such.

When shooting with the studio's Hasselblad or even the wonderful Leica X1 that I carry in my bag everywhere I go, I don't even think of looking at the screen, so I don't have a problem with that, and more likely than not, I already wait awhile before processing in LR and PS so the wait for film images is a welcome anticipatory activity. It IS nice! When I develop/scan my own, and when I await the results from my buddy's lab, I enjoy the break knowing the return date is on my calendar and I can do other things. Lord knows I have plenty to do....so, yes it is Christmas-like, indeed.

When I have deadlines, of course, everything changes but with my projects, I don't have a problem with a week turnaround anyway. 🙂 It is ALL good.
 
Yes it is!

I have several rolls of 220 Velvia I'm sending off to Dwaynes soon--shot over the summer and recent trip to Montana. My c41 120 rolls need to be developed and I'll do that myself eventually. I too love surprises.
 
I hate the waiting!

I only started photography when digital cameras arrived. I did have a few false starts before digital: I’d buy a film camera but get teed off with having to use an entire roll and bored waiting for development - and sell or give away the camera.

I want to see my photographs NOW not later. I happily chimp away to get the shot I want. And I’m not interested in developing my own either: no magic for me watching an image appear.

If digital cameras hadn’t been invented, I would not have becomes a photographer.

However, digital and seeing the photograph immediately changed everything for me, and I went on to do a master’s degree in photography and was taught by a Magnum photographer! Photography’s now a big part of my life, but the magic is in the photograph itself for me, not how it’s taken or the equipment used.

I do occasionally use a medium format film camera but only because Portra film gives me colours and a look impossible to get with digital (not better, just different). So I put up with the inconvenience and tedium of film.

If I couldn’t use digital cameras, I’d give up photography...!
 
I don`t like the waiting either Rich although I`m learning to put up with it because I`ve finally given up on the developing.

It was a toss up which was the least of two ….

Love film cameras and love film ….. I`ve been shooting it since `62 but for most of that time it was Kodachrome .
So no development but a wait.
I wish that I felt differently and I have tried ...

Looks like that`s how its got to be in the future :bang:
 
Michael Markey said:
I don`t like the waiting either Rich although I`m learning to put up with it because I`ve finally given up on the developing.

It was a toss up which was the least of two ….

Love film cameras and love film ….. I`ve been shooting it since `62 but for most of that time it was Kodachrome .
So no development but a wait.
I wish that I felt differently and I have tried ...

Looks like that`s how its got to be in the future :bang:
Click to expand...
I did try to get on with film ... several times. But always gave up because of the waiting.

I’m in my 50s, so film cameras were around for most of my life - yet I’ve only got a couple of dozen photos taken on film because using it was so annoying!

I get why others like film, but it’s not my cup of tea!

I always make prints, though, as I feel a photo isn’t “done” till it’s printed.

I will also admit to liking film cameras as objects - I’ve a few that are essentially ornaments. Bit of a shame, really, as I rebuilt them all from scratch (I’ve a Moskva that was hideously crude but which is now smooth as silk after being “blueprinted” - it actually has a roll of film in, but sadly it’s been there half used for 6 years!).
 
RichC said:
I did try to get on with film ... several times. But always gave up because of the waiting.

I’m in my 50s, so film cameras were around for most of my life - yet I’ve only got a couple of dozen photos taken on film because using it was so annoying!

I get why others like film, but it’s not my cup of tea!

I always make prints, though, as I feel a photo isn’t “done” till it’s printed.

I will also admit to liking film cameras as objects - I’ve a few that are essentially ornaments. Bit of a shame, really, as I rebuilt them all from scratch (I’ve a Moskva that was hideously crude but which is now smooth as silk after being “blueprinted” - it actually has a roll of film in, but sadly it’s been there half used for 6 years!).
Click to expand...

I hear you Rich but when are we going to get around to that negative space exercise 🙂
 
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