Digital photography tends to be perfectly sharp, very vibrant and saturated, and perfectly exposed. That’s boring. Film photography is making a comeback. The beauty of film is that it’s not as beautiful. It’s harder to get tack sharp photos. You don’t always get the exposure right. Colors are dependent on the film that you’re using. And each film lens and every film camera has their own unique characteristics.

I recently got my negatives back from my first 2017 roll of film. I dropped it off at Dunwoody Photo, a local film developing shop outside of Atlanta. You see, with digital, you get to see your photos right away. But with film, you have to wait 3 days from the day you drop it off. As you can imagine, I was anxious and excited to see my first roll of Portra 400.

Day of the Shoot

Custom Creations by Cyndi is a Hmong clothes vendor based out of Menasha, WI. Cyndi reached out to me to see if I would take photos of her creations. I agreed and immediately reached out to @___ntxheeyees & @alanna.vangg to see if they would model the clothes.

I met with @___ntxheeyees & @alanna.vangg at a local restaurant, where we carpooled and headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Blowing Rock, NC. We arrived about an hour before sunset. The location was beautiful! We had an overlook on one side and a mountain forest and field on the other side. However, the golden sun was no where to be found. It was cloudy and the light was flat, but we had to work with what we had.

The Shots

Every shot was captured with a Canon AE-1, Canon 50mm 1.4 SSC, and Portra 400. The lens is stuck at 1.4, so every shot was shot at f/1.4. I like to shoot wide open anyway. Here’s a pro-tip: If you don’t have a light meter, use your digital camera to find the exposure and replicate the settings on your film camera. You’re welcome.