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Hello from the Canadian Prairies- from an elder millennial tech-straddler jumping back into film

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deinonychus

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Hello! I live up in the Prairies and am jazzed to have found this forum.

I'm in my early 40s and forums were a big part of my teenage hobby building. I used to shoot film 20-25 years ago, but had no clue what I was doing. I used my dad's Spotmatic SP with a dead light meter and just guessed. Looked nothing up, just bought whatever film with no understanding of speed appropriate to use. It was a wild time. I got a DSLR in the early 2010s but just never really clicked with it, and then I got a smart phone that ended up taking good enough photos, so photography as a hobby fell by the wayside for a decade or so.

I am in the process of scanning some of my negative archives to see how they fare compared to the lab prints I have and it's so funny checking out what film stocks I used. Of course a bunch don't exist anymore, and there are many many dud photos because of exposure. But there are also gems.

Getting back into a hobby when life is different can be fun. The challenges of full-time work and kids and TIME (the lack). However I find myself packing my camera into my backpack and wandering at lunch to shoot a few frames. Or I bring my camera on an outing with one of my kids and take some photos while he plays at the park.

I long for the candid family photography of my own childhood (shot on the exact same camera). Purposeful versus the inundation of pictures on my phone. I like the process of developing my own negatives even if I am not doing it perfectly. Although I would love to have a darkroom to print photos, that is definitely not in the cards at this stage of life so I have learned to use darktable and print my own photos. It's the least fun part as my job is also in front of a computer, but it's a necessary step for now.

My main format is 35mm, but I also have a medium format TLR that I am playing around with. The learning curve is steep for focusing, but it's a fun format and since I develop my own negatives, the stakes are low shooting 120. I have a few photography theory books to try and learn exposure and framing techniques, but as usual, time is the enemy and life is full. So it is slow.

I am looking forward to exploring around in here more and hopefully connecting with some folks who were super interested in film as a youth, and are jumping back into it.

Some of my favourite photographers are Peter Henry Emerson, Vivian Maier, Diane Arbus, Yousuf Karsh, Claude Cahun, Lee Miller-- to name a few
 

xkaes

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Welcome to the FORUM. The Canadian Prairies are just as enormous as those in the USA -- just with fewer people. And even though you are lacking for time, you are not lacking in subject material.

Are you still using the Spotmatic? If so, all you need is a decent light meter that you can get for under $20.

Are you from the Edmonton or Winnipeg side of the prairiie?
 

Andrew O'Neill

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Welcome to Photrio! I was born and raised in Saskatoon. I try to get back to Saskatchewan at least every couple of years with cameras in tow. I find my home province to be very inspiring.
 

MattKing

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Welcome, from the west side of the country!
 
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deinonychus

deinonychus

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Welcome to the FORUM. The Canadian Prairies are just as enormous as those in the USA -- just with fewer people. And even though you are lacking for time, you are not lacking in subject material.

Are you still using the Spotmatic? If so, all you need is a decent light meter that you can get for under $20.

Are you from the Edmonton or Winnipeg side of the prairiie?

Thanks! The Calgary side! So at the foothills of the Rockies, which has multiple eco-tones of diversity (moraine, parkland, tall-grass prarie, badlands etc). The possibilities for sublime landscapes are endless. And we get an immense amount of sun in the winter so black and white is awesome. I am also very excited for this summer's canola season and hiking in the Kananaskis. The colours are just so good.

I still use the Spotmatic. My repair guy Gary fixed the film counter and lightmeter about 5 years ago I just hadn't used my camera much until last fall because life. I also got a sekonic reflective and incidental meter (not 20$, haha) from my partner to use with my Yashica D. It's fun carrying it around and just seeing what kind of metering whatever things are.
 
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deinonychus

deinonychus

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Welcome aboard @deinonychus ! I hope you'll be able to find some time/space to practice photography. It's rewarding, but naturally ends up pretty far down on the list of operational priorities...

I think the fact you can break the hobby up into chunks and locations is quite helpful. The shooting part is the most flexible as I can bring it out while I'm already out and about, or I can take a camera along for a dog walk. The developing is the most structured, but it isn't too long if I plan ahead and warm up chemicals via sousvide while doing something else. Or if it black and white my basement cupboard temps keep chems at a pretty even 20 degrees.

The inverting and editing is the most time consuming and annoying as my kids don't allow for a lot of computer concentration and end of day my brain is rotten. But I can invert a couple images, tweak them slightly and then I am done. I don't use photoshop at home and don't really want to, I am trying to frame and expose my photos well enough to just need minor tweaks.

My other main hobby is sewing and that one is much more difficult to chunk out portions as it all still has to be done in my sewing room and takes a lot of time
 
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deinonychus

deinonychus

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Welcome to Photrio! I was born and raised in Saskatoon. I try to get back to Saskatchewan at least every couple of years with cameras in tow. I find my home province to be very inspiring.

Oh the Saskatoon river valley is so gorgeous. I used to stay downtown for work sometimes and there are great buildings and lots of nice photo opportunities
 

mshchem

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Welcome to Photrio!! Iowa, still a bit of a prairie, contaminated with maize and soy. ☺️

For black and white film, consider a simple place to make contact prints. A closet, a light bulb, 1 tray and a small bucket.

Easier for me to scan a contact print with my peepers, also easy to scan the thing with a flatbed copier.
 

xkaes

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Welcome to Photrio!! Iowa, still a bit of a prairie, contaminated with maize and soy. ☺️

Let's not forget wind farms -- a new income source for farmers who can't sell their corn or beans!!! 😛
 
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Sirius Glass

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Welcome to Photrio!
 

MurrayMinchin

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Welcome aboard from BC's north coast! Calgary area has lots of variety for sure 👍
 

Old_Dick

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Welcome to a group of smart and good looking people, and from me personally. East coast of New England.
 

MurrayMinchin

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Oh, BC northcoast is pretty dang sublime too. All those wonderful overcast coastal days with peeps of sun.
Yup, only Stewart and Prince Rupert have less sunshine than Kitimat, where I live. I think of it as being perpetually lit by a thousands of square Kilometre soft box 😁
 
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