Friday, September 9, 2011

Flashback Friday: Days of film


It seems forever ago, but before there was digital there was film. I loved it. Don't get me wrong digital is awesome you can easily and quickly take a lot more pics. It's also cheaper than having to buy film and store it, process it, stare through those magnifier at each pic to decide what you like. Before retouching came around it was so much cleaner and fresher. Don't get me wrong DI has it's place, but sometimes they overdo it so much that I can't even recognize myself. Altering actual facial structures to the point where it looks like plastic surgery gone wrong. I can see how it is confusing seeing photos and than seeing people in real life and not being able to recognize them. Work days go a lot faster with digital. Clients can immediately see exactly what they are getting and be satisfied or unsatisfied and change the direction it's going. You know what else I miss? Polaroids. I loved being able to take home a polaroid of the job I just did especially because a lot of the time you don't see the final product. Even if you do it always looks so much better. They were perfect for keeping a journal of what I was doing. So this post is dedicated to the days of film when you got exited about racing to the agency to see the new film and be a part of the selection process. Now it seems you take the pictures for a test and the photographer edits a handful of pics for you to choose from. I don't even see it until the final product. I've lost half the fun of doing a test. Plus you don't get to see the mess-ups like eyes shut, goofy faces, blurry photos, chopped off heads, etc. I love the mess-ups.


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These first two we actually put in my book just like this. It was the final two pictures in my book. I'm not sure where it started, but I wasn't the only one who had pages like this in their book.


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These are from an even older test. Patrick Hume was the photographer, I was 14 or 15, and I believe in Miami. I know Patrick shot both of these, but honestly I don't even remember if it was at the same time or not. I am thinking not. I did a lot of my first tests with Patrick. He was great I always got great photos out of it. What are your thoughts on film vs. digital? Me personally I love the look of film, but to take the pictures myself? I need the digital especially when my models are mainly me kids. Much easier to be sure I got a good photo than waiting until it's processed to realize not one pic of that important event turned out! When I traveled I would take like 15 rolls of film on a trip and maybe 25 pics would be decent enough to keep. I know! I was terrible. I like to think that I have gotten better at taking the photos than my teenage years, but digital has a lot to do with that. I admire all you film enthusiast out there who manage to compose the most extraordinary photos on film. Inspired me to take better pictures for sure.

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