Prompt: What is something you have taught yourself in the last year? How did you teach yourself this new skill or concept and what was the result?
There was a struggle that existed between the moment the button was pressed and when you finally saw your prints days or weeks after. Within this last year, I taught myself how to take pictures with a film camera. I'm always trying to find ways to connect myself to the past, which explains why I have found such a feeling of home in both my typewriter and record player. I had been an avid photographer for quite some time, and even had a position as the Photography Editor for the Yearbook staff. I enjoyed all of it, but something felt like it was missing. I didn't feel as if I could express my creativity to the fullest extent, and that's where learning film photography came in. For those who don't know, film photography is completely different from traditional digital photography. You have a roll of film with about 24 exposures and with each exposure, you manually focus and wind back your reel by pulling a lever. There is a greater feeling of sentimentality when photography is approached this way.
I struggled greatly at first with the mechanics of film photography at first, trying to figure out how the camera worked. I thought I knew everything about photography. This obviously proved me wrong and tested my limits. The film had to be tightly wound within the camera, so that when the shutter would click, the dial would make a full rotation, pulling more and more film out of the roll. My mom laughed at me for a while, because I went through about five rolls (that all ended up being blank) until I finally got the hang of it. It was really frustrating at first, because I wanted nothing more than for it to work. I never gave up though, and I am so grateful that I didn't. And I have beautiful film photography to show for it, despite the frustration that serves as a reminder that I shouldn't give up at anything and that nothing is impossible if you keep working at it.
Film photography allowed me to take a more artistic approach to my photography in yearbook, which I personally believe is the reason our book received such high praise from students as well as critics. Our book the year before was even considered one of the top thirteen yearbooks in the country, an honor that had never been bestowed on our school before. But, with the incorporation of my film photography, it reached a level beyond what it had reached the previous year. All types of people felt the ability to be connected to it.
Film photography felt like my own thing and it gives me solace knowing I have my own little thing that can take me away from reality sometimes. At the same time, people seem to appreciate it as a talent and it gives me the ability to connect with people, just as history gives me the ability to. The dead know things that we haven't found out yet, and film photography gives me the ability to explore those unknown things in the same way, just on a different level.
There was a struggle that existed between the moment the button was pressed and when you finally saw your prints days or weeks after. Within this last year, I taught myself how to take pictures with a film camera. I'm always trying to find ways to connect myself to the past, which explains why I have found such a feeling of home in both my typewriter and record player. I had been an avid photographer for quite some time, and even had a position as the Photography Editor for the Yearbook staff. I enjoyed all of it, but something felt like it was missing. I didn't feel as if I could express my creativity to the fullest extent, and that's where learning film photography came in. For those who don't know, film photography is completely different from traditional digital photography. You have a roll of film with about 24 exposures and with each exposure, you manually focus and wind back your reel by pulling a lever. There is a greater feeling of sentimentality when photography is approached this way.
I struggled greatly at first with the mechanics of film photography at first, trying to figure out how the camera worked. I thought I knew everything about photography. This obviously proved me wrong and tested my limits. The film had to be tightly wound within the camera, so that when the shutter would click, the dial would make a full rotation, pulling more and more film out of the roll. My mom laughed at me for a while, because I went through about five rolls (that all ended up being blank) until I finally got the hang of it. It was really frustrating at first, because I wanted nothing more than for it to work. I never gave up though, and I am so grateful that I didn't. And I have beautiful film photography to show for it, despite the frustration that serves as a reminder that I shouldn't give up at anything and that nothing is impossible if you keep working at it.
Film photography allowed me to take a more artistic approach to my photography in yearbook, which I personally believe is the reason our book received such high praise from students as well as critics. Our book the year before was even considered one of the top thirteen yearbooks in the country, an honor that had never been bestowed on our school before. But, with the incorporation of my film photography, it reached a level beyond what it had reached the previous year. All types of people felt the ability to be connected to it.
Film photography felt like my own thing and it gives me solace knowing I have my own little thing that can take me away from reality sometimes. At the same time, people seem to appreciate it as a talent and it gives me the ability to connect with people, just as history gives me the ability to. The dead know things that we haven't found out yet, and film photography gives me the ability to explore those unknown things in the same way, just on a different level.
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