area 25 artistry: All the Film - Provia 100f

To say I love film would be an understatement. Like many film shooters, my roots go waaaay back to the early 80s, and my first camera had a cube flash and used 110 film. I was excited when digital debuted, eager to satisfy my need for instant gratification, and to learn and utilize photoshop. Don't get me wrong, digital photography is amazing, and I still shoot digital more often than film (because it's cheaper), but there is something magical about film. It makes you more aware and cautious about pressing the shutter release. After all, there is no delete, and you can't view the images immediately to get a re-do. It's the magic of the light burning images onto the film, the colors rendered by the combination of light and film, as well as the skill and vision of the photographer, and finally- the processing.

And there's the grain.

When digital came into my world, grain was something you wanted to avoid- but in the film world, it offers a distinct beauty, a texture, and character to images. Embrace the grain.

Since I am addicted to collecting and trying cameras and films, including the expired, vintage varieties, I thought I would share some of the results. A few years ago I bought a lot of expired Fujifilm Provia 100f on eBay, and due to life and some unexpected interruptions, It ended up in a hot attic for several months. I had no idea what the results would be when I loaded it into my Nikon F100, but I loaded it nonetheless, and our little family went out for an early Spring hike along the lakeside at Longhunter State Park in Tennessee. The results are punchy, vibrant and heavily saturated, with a welcomed retro feel, and convey the mood and feel of the day perfectly. It was cold and sunny, a perfect combination of the last chill of Winter and the first green of Spring.