Getting back into photography, film photography, that is

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May 30, Memorial Day, 2022

I started the day by making our lunch. I made a savory sauce, roasted sweet potato cubes, smokey collard greens, and barbecued tempeh. All plants. Not a single animal product. Nobody died for my lunch.

In the afternoon my beloved partner and I walked Nacho in the hills above our house. She brought her Polaroid SX-70 camera and took a few pix using 5-year old film. Surprisingly, some of the pictures demonstrate the dreamy Polaroid glow. When you shoot Polaroid, you are sometimes blessed with happy accidents. That’s life with a 50-year old camera.

In one of the pictures, I’m wearing a new pair of glasses that I bought online, from Zenni. I’m using a temporary prescription for the next few months until my cataract surgeries heal up.

I’m going to get back into photography, in a small way this time. I’ll be putting some photos here from time to time.

Brand names I mentioned in this post just because I like the products. Relax — there’s no kickback coming my way.

Sunday, May 22, 2022 -- Second chore day in a row, and the return of my first love

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Today was a cooking day. From 9:30 to 4 pm I was baking vegan loaves and cornmeal encrusted tempeh buffalo wings. Oh, I almost forgot the gallon of tomato sauce I cooked.

On another front, I feel my old first love beckoning me again…film photography. I was totally into film photography from 1967 to 2001. I was a camera addict with my share of Nikons, Leicas, Hassleblads, Pentaxes, and a shit ton of no-name cameras I found in pawn shops. I had my own darkroom, enlarger, the finest lenses, and 100-foot rolls of 35mm black and white film. My true loves were Kodak Tri-X film and D-76 developer.

Then, I went insane and stupid and sold all of my gear. Why was I so dumb? Simple. I was going to go digital! From that day in 2003, when I bought a shitty digital camera and tried to make it work, my interest in photography eroded year by year until all I had to take pictures was my telephone.

But now, the sleeping giant has awakened. My partner has been talking madly, passionately about film photography, and I feel excited about shooting someblack and white film. Tri-X, of course.

I’m not sure how deeply I’ll dive in. I still have picture books to illustrate and stories to tell. Will their attraction be enough to keep me faithful, or will my first love consume me…again?