All the Film - Provia 100f | X-Pro

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.

Technical Details:

Nikon F100

Nikkor 28mm 2.8D | Nikkor 50 1.4D

Fujifilm Provia 100f | rated at box speed

Cross-Processed  and scanned on Noritsu by Dury's of Nashville

Until next time, #staybrokeshootfilm -

Leah

Charlotte's Web (and a morning walk)

WARNING: If spiders give you the willies, you may want to scroll down to the second half of this post.  But if you do, you're a chicken.  And not one of those clever, diaper-wearing, egg-laying pet chickens....but the great big, cry-baby, weeny kind.

Personally I felt things crawling on me the whole time I was culling and finishing these for the post, but Charlotte is a beautiful specimen of Argiope Aurantia (or Yellow and Black Garden Spider), and since she made a home at our gate a few weeks ago, I have become quite fascinated with her. In just about 12 days time, her abdomen has doubled in size. She's always eating, so I'm not sure if the swollen abdomen is from all the grub, or if she's preparing to lay an egg and become a spider mom to dozens of little spider babies.

I just got the willies again.

Anyhoo, I didn't intend to take so many pictures of Charlotte (I named her because like my children, I am desperate for a pet).  I've just been taking my camera on my morning walks, and on this day, I was particularly amazed by her spidery-creepiness.

So if you can handle all the weird and fascinating details of an enormous, yet beautiful and intriguing garden spider (science and nature geeks unite!), I'm about to share my National-Geographic-Wannabe best....

(introductory photo to lure those faint-of-heart into this post...)

morning dew on a blade of grass

Nikon D700 - Sigma 105 2.8

This is Charlotte.  She's about 2.5" in length (body) and 4" in diameter, including her long, lanky legs.

Not that I have any room to talk, but this girl has put on a few grams lately.

Creepy, right?

The stuff my nightmares are made of, folks.

And just in case you've ever wondered about the business-end of a spider (or as scientists and fellow nerds would call it, spinnerets)-

This is where the silk for her web comes from.

Doing her thing, spinning her web, minding her own business....

until....

Silly moth.  You just messed up.

I felt sorry for it for a minute, but then I thought about the moth holes in my Rolling Stones t-shirt.

And how the horse-flies and wasps have been absent from the gate and the mailbox since Charlotte moved in.

Carry on, Charlotte.

Watching her subdue and wrap up the moth was really, really cool.  I pretended I was shooting for educational purposes, and channeled my inner National-Geograpic-Photographer-Wannabe.

It's like a Southern mom's equivalent to starting dinner in a Crock Pot in the morning and leaving it to slow cook until dinner time.

Poor moth.

Oh wait....holes in favorite t-shirts....

And so she waits.

Belly growing,

web weaving,

moth catching.

The first spider I've ever seen and let live.

And just like watching cartoons after a horror film, here are a few random "pretty shots" of our road to wash off the willies...

(non-spider shots with Nikon D700 + Lensbaby Composer Pro | Sweet 35 Optic)

Until next time-

Leah