1871 (2023) (Patreon)

Another of my series of self-portraits from Bannack, Montana. I was talking the other night to a friend of mine who shoots primarily film cameras about what it's worth actually spending money on and what isn't with analog formats, because I desperately want to get into medium-format photography. (I may come into the possession of a Mamiyapress soon, which I'm extremely excited for.)

The solution we reached is that unfortunately, for the stuff I like to shoot, it would be worth it (and likely better) if I had a medium-format film camera instead of a digital SLR almost all of the time. I shoot large landscapes at small apertures, I spend altogether too much time in post-processing trying to coax some semblance of accurate greens out of my digital sensor, and I like to blow up my photos to ridiculous size. All of these are better suited for medium-format (or large-format) film.

So what do I shoot that actually uses the strengths of digital as an inherent part of the work? Well, I used to do a lot of night street photography, frequently without a tripod, which is certainly virtually impossible without digital. That's one.

the escort in the alleyway (2022)

The other that came to mind is this photo series in Bannack, where a digital camera allows me to more easily iterate through poses and confirm that I have, indeed, positioned myself right for the photo. This shot, for example, I originally had myself to the right of the bench, with my hair in the light; I realized after double-checking that I hated how it pulled focus from the house, and it would be a better scene with me in the shadows. I re-took it, and this was The Shot.

Would it have been impossible to fix matters of self-positioning on film? No. However, it would drastically limit the scope of this project; this town is two and a half hours away, and it would be disappointing to find out these things in the darkroom a week later, instead of on the LCD while I'm still in the town. 

While I still want my Mamiyapress, at least I have to admit that my beat-to-hell Toyota Corolla of DSLRs (Nikon D750) has some strengths for my work that I cannot deny.