Back when I was studying photography at the Art Institute in 1995 I had many dreams… one of them was to own top notch Hasselblads like the 203 FE. Well my dream came true a few weeks ago when I took all the money I made from my Canon gear blow out sale and invested it in a new Hasselblad system. Why am I going back to film? Because it’s cool…. shooting film for me is like eating chickens from the farmer, where digital is more like McDonald’s nuggets. There is something about shooting film that is so raw, so organic so beautiful that only someone that has shot film can understand, especially the medium format Hasselblad. There are so many shooters in the market place these days, sometimes I feel that everyone is doing the exact same thing. Same poses, same “rad” actions and nothing looks unique anymore. Shooting medium format film will set me apart from the rest with a more unique look that can only be achieved from film. You don’t realize how amazing film is until you shoot digital for years and go back to film. Only then you realize how limited you are and how much time you waste at the computer trying to “fix” or make your digital images look like film instead of being out there shooting.
I have been shooting more film recently and I think I am falling in love with photography again. The way it was meant to be. Now don’t get me wrong, digital is a solid part of my business, however don’t be surprised to see me whip out those babies for some old school awesomeness at my next weddings. I think I am well equipped now with the Nikon/Hasselblad combo.
Without further chit chat, here are my film images. All these images were shot on 120 film (Fuji Pro 400H & Kodak Plus-x) and scanned on a Fuji Frontier scanner at Richard Photo Lab in Los Angeles. I also insisted on posting them “as is” without any post production in photoshop. Hard to believe, but all these images are from 3 rolls of 120 (12exp) film. Thanks to Ling & Chris for letting me experiment.
One thing I love about film is that there is always detail and amazing tonality in the shadows and highlights. No blow out whites like in digital.
Say hello to my new Swedish girlfriends!
