Painting Film Photos
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I spent fifteen years as a professional photographer. I started my photography journey with a 35mm film camera - a Nikon N70 that my Dad gave me when I was in high school... and it's still my favorite camera that I use all the time today! During my time as a professional photographer I realized that the common thread with my stressors were always centered around control. Especially when it came to wedding days- I became hyper focused on all of the things that could possibly happen so that I could gain control in any situation and do my job well. It worked! lol! I did have crazy situations occur but it never threw me. I only had happy clients, but I do think that my war with control slowly took much of the joy out of something that I once loved.
*Enter my absolute love for film photography* I stumbled across Lomography early on and it instantly became an obsession. I discovered the most colorful and simply made "toy" film cameras. Some of them just have a single button to snap the photo- similar to a disposable camera. It stripped away all of the complications, was light and easy to toss in a purse and I always, always loved the surprise results when I would receive my film scans.
Film photos often times make me "feel" more when looking at a photo. In my opinion they are more painterly. Rather than 46 megapixels capturing each and every leaf in a photo of a tree, with film it's simplified and feels alive. Often times there are fun light leaks and bursts from the sunlight catching the plastic lens.
Probably because of my time as a photographer, I prefer to paint using reference photos rather than from life. I always gravitate towards my film photos when selecting an image for a new painting. I was recently gifted a Kodak Film Scanner and I have had the most fun going through old negatives. It is so simple to use and I love the results! I have been going through some negatives that were my grandparents from the 1950's, some of my husbands film and found the cutest photos of him as a baby! I also found slide film with cryptic labels and discovered that they are photos from an archeological dig on St Catherine's Island in which they recovered skeletons and gorgeous ancient pottery. !!!! I can't wait to share more of that.
Let me know in the comment section if there's anything you'd like to learn more about when it comes to shooting film, equipment or painting! I am an open book and love to share these things that bring me immense joy!
** Should you decide that you'd like to give the Kodak Scanner a go, I think it's a great Christmas gift idea! If you click to it using the link above I do receive a small commission as an amazon affiliate at no additional cost to you **