EPISODE TWO
BIG SUR,
CALIFORNIA
COLIN’S JOURNAL
REFLECTIONS FROM
SHOOTING FILM
The best thing about shooting film is that you forget you even did it.
This photo is a perfect example:
I took this of my wife when she was newly pregnant with our son Ollie, one month before the fires destroyed the house and everything inside it.
Our camera survived the fires in the trunk of the car that my wife used to flee the scene.
An entire year passed without developing the roll, and by the time I got around to it, every exposure revived a memory that I was close to losing forever.
To me, this photo is the calm before the storm that I never want to forget. It reminds me of the 4 glorious months that we spent in the home when we felt truly settled. It makes me happy that it happened instead of sad that it’s gone.
This is an extreme case of “forget and relive”, but even now I often procrastinate to get film developed…forgetting entirely what I shot by the time the rolls get dropped off.
Film photos are rare and intentional, and that’s what I love about them. Meanwhile, the camera roll on my phone has an overwhelming 17,514 photos.
Our trip to Big Sur this year was the first time I intentionally took a trip with the sole purpose of taking photos. The experience taught me a lot about the true value of a good road trip and a film camera.
Lesson 1: Awareness
The mere presence of a camera in your hand forces you to be more aware. At every moment I was looking to find something interesting to shoot. I was appreciating trees, birds, bodies of water, and rays of light in ways that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have a camera.
Awareness is a skill that every artist should practice. The more aware you are of the world, the better your chance is of creating something that shapes it.
The camera was our guide for the day and it led us to some truly beautiful places.
Lesson 2: Patience
When you only have a select number of photos you can take, you have to be patient and wait for the right one. At first I wanted to take a million photos, but eventually I learned to be comfortable with waiting, thinking, and deciding with intention.
Lesson 3: Humility
The truth is that I’m still learning how to shoot film. The camera I brought with me was more advanced than cameras I’d used in the past.
Two entire rolls of film came back blank from this trip. I messed up loading them and thought I was shooting when I wasn’t. It was a bit devastating, as well as a good lesson in humility.
I’m new to this craft, and like anything, mastering it will take time. Either way, the experience of driving through Big Sur is one that I’ll never forget and plan to do again soon.
— Colin