Leica M3! I choose you!

Im sticking to my guns! I said it and I will damn right stick by it and write posts on my holidays! Shows character doesn't it? Well I think so, a person who is determined to ensure they practice what they preach, this is a person to be trusted, unless their life goal was actually to be your arch enemy then no, I wouldn't trust them, but, you get the point.

Ok, I have a 36 exposure Fujifilm 160NC roll lingering in the depths of my Leica M3 for the past month. Film is just so much more important to me. Im assuming this is because, money does not at all grow off trees, and hardly can I scrape the barrel that is my bank account to shell out for luxuries that is what they call, film. This is probably why I'm so afraid to use it, well maybe not afraid, but to put it in lame mans terms, scroogeish? I want to make sure each frame is worth that spot on the film, if not, then whats the point, what a waste. I wish I could just have an endless supply of film but hey, we don't have a genie that could make that happen, and even if we had a genie, I'm sure we would ask for greater things, the materialistic driven type of people we are, we love our things.

I have taken it upon myself as a task tomorrow, it is now 11:03pm and I am writing this, yes, to finish this roll and have it developed at a 1 hour photo place and have a set of printed photos by night to scan in at home and post here. Im actually quite excited about this and it has been on my mind for a while, thinking of it gives me chills to see photos that I have previously taken. I have no idea what's on there! Simply because my memory fills up faster than an old 8 megabyte SD card. Nonetheless, a definate treat to see in the end!

I've seriously had the Leica sitting on the coffee table doing nothing, I did take a photo yesterday though of the road so hey! My memory has slightly come back! But it will be somewhat of an achievement to finish another roll. I have practically only finished 2 rolls from shoot all the way to develop and print. The first roll sadly was destroyed because my lack of knowledge and mechanics of a 35mm camera assuming it somehow works just like a medium format and collects straight onto the other spool. Silly me, but it was an invaluable lesson that I will never forget, the memories of my trip to the Philippines however recorded on that film are most certainly, bitterly, sadly, gone.

This talk has gradually leaned towards my overall topic. My new found utter fascination with film and the process involved. I find it deeply rewarding especially with the Leica to take photo's using full manual settings, full manual focus, full manual developing tied together with patience. This is the natural, real and fundamental process of photography that I believe everyone should experience if you are becoming a photographer, not just digital. Digital photography teaches you how to chimp, notice exposure issues and fix them by twiddling some dials till it looks right. What happened to getting it right straight away? This is the best feeling to know that you got it right, its like an award every time you look at your photos, well this is how I believe, I suppose this is my true passion to the art.

This leads to my other agenda, art. Apart from all the technical aspects, you still need to create an interesting image, and this ofcourse comes from creativity, knowledge of visual concepts, talent and even some luck. Some great images may not be technically sound but still look amazing! This is the art! Imagine having both creativity and the fundamentals of photography to portray these crazy and fantastic ideas you have in your gifted little head. That makes a photographer in my opinion, a person who can develop not a photo, but a vision.

I believe I know a sufficient amount on the technical aspects of photography, but I think my creativity could be lacking. I tend to stick to what I know Im good at, not leaving my comfort zone and generally producing ok images, but nothing great, however just like everyone else, we are our own harshest critic. I want to change this. How could I develop my creativity? I stumbled across some magazines, and saw some photos that were beautiful, not tack sharp in focus and had lens flare that took up almost the entire image, but the photograph still looked beautiful. I found out this photo was taken with a Holga. I was astonished! A cheap plastic camera developed such a photo that was credited by a magazine and shown for the world to see. This was inspiring. So I read up on Holga's. I've seen them but always looked the other way, mainly because a lot of my friends had them and I didnt want to fall into the trend. But just now, have I given in to the trend. I just bought a Holga 135BC which I will expect next week.

The reason? I suppose I am placing some faith in this aparatus to explore my creativity. There are hardly any features on this camera, it is simple, it is film and all I mainly have to do is find things I want to take a photo of and snap it. Beautiful! I get the best of both worlds, an exploration of creativity and I get to use film!

I think this will be a fun and adventurous task for me that will possibly open up a new world to my photography. Im excited and its now late, so I think its time for some sleep. Tomorrow, my Leica is going to finish another roll. I am deeply thrilled and can't wait to see the results. Till then friends, Keep Snapping!