Life at Shutter Speed

A New Beginning

So I’m reviving the Daily Photo Project.  I felt I have creatively stagnated recently and I felt this would be a good opportunity for me to get behind the lens again and get the juices flowing.  

New toys

I just picked up a film scanner…finally.  Expect to see a lot of my medium format work up here now that I have a way to digitize it.  A whole 6 months worth of film is going to be posted starting…NOW.

Loading 35mm film into your medium format camera

So I tried this last week and it was so cool I thought I would share it with all of you.  I loaded 35mm color film into my 120 Holga. The purpose of doing this is to expose the entire peice of 35mm film, perforations and all.  The result can be really cool.

The following is a tutorial on how to do so.  The materials needed are:  One roll 35mm film, Meidum Format Camera, packing foam, thin rubber bands (3-4), black vinyl tape, patience.

Step 1 

Open up your Holga.  Remove film spool, guide, batteries*, etc.  (*Note you can tape the batteries in if you still want to be able to use the flash)

Step 2

This is very important!  Take your black vinyl tape and tape over the red window on the backpeice of the Holga, inside and outside.  *Remember 120 film has paper rolled with it and this prevents the light entering the window from exposing the film.  If you do not tape over this window well your film will get exposed and will be ruined.

Step 3 

Take some of the rubber bands and loop them around the reel from your camera so they create a guide space the width of 35mm film.

Step 4 

Use the packing foam to create spacers in the place where you would normally load the film into the camera.  These spacers should hold your roll of 35mm film snugly in place.

Step 5 

Load the roll of film as you normally would in a 35mm SLR and tuck the leader end into the spool on the right of the camera.  You can also tape it to the reel if you want.

Step 6

Place another piece of packing foam over the roll of film to ensure a snug fit.  Put the backplate on the camera and seal any cracks with vinyl tape.  Turn the film advance knob 2 full roatations (48 clicks) to advance to the next frame. Remember when composing your photos that only the center third of the frame will be captured on film.

Step 7

YOU MUST UNLOAD YOUR FILM IN A LIGHT FREE ENVIRONMENT SUCH AS A DARKROOM!  YOU WILL HAVE TO WIND THE FILM BACK INTO ITS OWN ROLL BEFORE YOU EXIT YOUR DARKROOM!  IF YOU OPEN THE BACK OF THE CAMERA IN DAYLIGHT YOU WILL EXPOSE ALL YOUR FILM AND RUIN IT!

**A note on why I chose the Holga to demonstrate.  The Holga is a fairly common camera, it is cheap, easy to use and most people wouldn’t mind sealing it up with tape or cramming foam inside of it.  This technique can be adapted to different kinds of medium format cameras with little difficulty.  Adapting the technique is simple and requires that you loop rubberbands over any spools as shown above.  For medium format TLRs and SLRs you may need to load the film entirely in the dark.  I have used this technique with my Mamiya RB 67 Pro. When I loaded the film I pulled it all out of the 35mm canister and cut it off, then wound it onto the reels in the dark.  It takes some effort but the results are well worth it.  Good luck and happy shooting!

A New Beginning

So this is a bit of a rework for the blog, which used to be one photo everyday.  That was easier when I worked with he digital medium more.  I have moved away from that and work almost exclusively with film.  I have a regular job now and escapades in the middle of the night to go take photos are becoming difficult.  Also, it is diffiuclt (and costly) to shoot develop and scan an entire roll of film everyday.  Therefore, I have redefined this space as a blog in which I will keep people aware of whats going on in my photographic life.  This may mean posting photos I have taken recently, showing new equipment I have aquired, etc.  The point is I want to keep it flexible and interesting.  If you want to see some of my work and what I have been up to lately you can chek it out here.