A couple weekends back I managed to attend the International Horseradish Festival, the Kimmswick Strawberry Fest, and the Pagan Picnic in Tower Grove Park. I’ve included a few other scenes about town as well, some film and some digital. I’ll also introduce a couple images from a new digital body, the Hasselblad X2D 100C.

Over the last year I’ve been much more drawn to film. For me it’s about process, and a general posture of wanting to be more intimately involved in the processes that matter to me. At this point I feel confident about my technical skills with mirrorless digital. Film still eludes me, still feels fresh and mysterious, frustrating and even maddening, but slower, wrought with intention.

The role aperture plays between film and digital is completely different. With digital if I’m shooting in a dynamic setting, say a protest, I might change any of the three exposure elements to get it right with just a thumb gesture. And in fact I tend to default to adjusting ISO first simply because of how Canon lays out its controls.

With film my ISO is a settled matter (and I tend to use ISO 400 film). Because of that, my first thought as to settings is shutter speed, because if it’s low light or involves movement the shutter speed is the next condition to meet for a decent shot. And so then, once that’s settled, I pull out my light meter, plug in the ISO and shutter speed, and it tells me what aperture to use. If I then decide I want to flatten the focus around f/11 but indoors in the evening with people milling about with ISO 400 loaded, it’s time to think creatively to get proper exposure.

Quite simply, with digital you turn a few knobs and the problem is solved in nearly all cases. That isn’t at all a complaint against digital, just an observation that there’s less intimacy built into the process, which means there’s less awareness and engagement required on the photographer’s part.

Summer Begins

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Summer Begins

No Kings #3

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