Film Photography

    My Discovery

An interest that I am connected to is film photography. I have always had an interest in photography, whether that is taking pictures myself or getting behind the camera and getting my picture taken. My family members have gifted me many cameras like digital, go pro, and point and shoot camera. One day my grandpa asked me to come to his house in Mexico so I can pick out some of his old cameras that he had in storage. That was when I found and picked up my mom's old Canon sureshot zoom 105 film camera from the 90s. I haven't yet dabbled with film photography then other than just a disposable camera that I got developed. But I have followed many film photographers from San Diego and L.A. for years so this was very exciting and motivating for me to begin my film journey. If I am being quite honest, film photographer can be quite expensive because a 35mm film now a days will cost you up to 15$ or even more and you have to go to a specific shop to get your film developed. I practiced with different films such as Kodak Gold and other semi affordable film. I have been using my film camera for about three in a half years now, and so far my favorite 35mm film to shoot with is the Cinestill 800t. My favorite time to shoot with this type of film is at night with bright lights because this film brings the contrasts of the lights and colors to appear so beautifully. 

Shot of my boyfriend at a EDM festival.                        Shot of me at an arcade

 My aspirations and Community 

 

There are many communities are film photography such as clubs; workshops; and darkroom enthusiasts that specialized in getting the film developed. I consider myself to be still a newbie who is still learning but like I mentioned earlier I have met different and spoke to many different film enthusiasts like me through social media platforms like instagram. I follow many local photographers from San Diego and they have become an aspiration to me. I love the film photography community that I follow because they are also latino like me and many of their photography brings in the light and wonderfulness of hispanic culture in San Diego. One of the photographers on instagram that I follow is @Check619. I find her photography to be so beautiful and inspirational because I am also a chicana with family that comes from Mexico. She creates an art piece with her way of combining culture, fashion, and an urban look to her photos.

Love and Appreciation for film 

          I have always loved a good old vintage aesthetic my whole life because I was raised by my grandmother who also loved and appreciated antique things. There's just something about film photography that stands out more to me than regular digital photographer that is used today. Don't get me wrong I still use my digital and phone camera when it is convenient but now I bring my Olympus camera in my purse every time I go out just incase I want to shoot a photo. I have traveled to different places with this camera. I took my camera to New York City and Puerto Rico and got back some of the most unbelievable shots. I am aware that this is an expensive hobby but the photos I receive back are definitely worth my buck. It may be a little frustrating to others that you can't see the photo you took and have to wait to develop it but I find a beauty of not being able to see the photo right away. I get a burst of dopamine when I take my film to get developed and receive a text when it is ready because I have never seen these pictures before. It almost feels like a time capsule in a way because there's many memories I have shot and forgot about and I get to relive them once again.

 
                                 Puerto Rico 25'.                                                                   New York 24'