Mar 26

Mar 26 Caught on Film

I got out last weekend and tried out my new 1962 Leica M3 with a few roles of T-MAX ASA 100 and 400. I have never shot a proper film camera and it is interesting how different the experience is. I was reading a timely and interesting article on The Online Photographer talking about if there is really a need for a digital camera with a Black and White only sensor. He has been writing about this for a while now but this is a timely debate with the current rumors flying around that Leica is launching one, and without an LCD screen! Mike goes on to say that many people are missing the point that this is not a technical decision but what goes on in the photographers head when he is given this limitation

He goes on to talk about photographer Alex Webb who when photographing in the tropics realized that the harsh sunlight and high contrast would cause all shows to go black in this slide film. Rather than shying away from taking pictures with shadows he embraced it as strong graphical elements in his photos making powerful and unique photos. The idea here is your eyes see can't see these things but rather your brain learns to know what the camera will see and how it will interpret the scene.

This is similar to the concept I have talked about in the past of forcing myself to shoot at 21mm for a week, then at 35mm, and then at 50mm. You train your eyes to see the world in these fixed dimensions. I have been out with people before and when I take a shot they say "How did you see that?".

I imagine film is going to be very much the same for me as I learn how film interprets the scene in front of me. I really enjoyed my first experience with film and I am very interested to see where this goes... now enjoy some of my world 'Caught on Film'...