What Are You Crazy About?

These people are obviously nuts about cameras.

I look at the date on my computer screen, and its already the 20th of February. The last post on this blog was on January 31, so yeah its been a while. Sad fact is, I have only one roll to show for my 3 week absence. Why? Well...

... first of all, things are getting heavier at work, and my weekends have been devoted to R&R&Alcohol. Its pretty hard to do anything with a hangover, much less go out and take pictures. Second, is that I've run into some trouble with my cameras. I loaded some pretty expensive ISO 800 film onto my XA, for a Saturday night round of get-togethers with friends, only to find out that the sprocket didn't take up the film properly, EVEN when I felt some (admittedly unusual) tension as I cranked the advance wheel. So I wound up with 2 image-less rolls and my money back, the latter being a no consolation at all for the former.  Then the next week, I decided to take the A1, with its 28-85mm, to another one of my friend's football matches. It was great, I missed shooting sports, and the lens had sufficient reach, so I felt confident I'd get some pretty decent shots later on. Then I reached the 37th frame, and started rewinding, until I heard something snap from within. I opened up the back, to reveal the film, torn up and the plastic sprocket cracked. Oh for fuck's sake. I got pretty upset. More upset than I'd thought I would be. I mean, its not like it was the only camera I had. In fact the A1 was the least used of the 3. I guess because it was a series of unfortunate events. It felt like the shit finally hit the fan. Plus it was the first time I really used the A1 after I had it repaired. Ok, I think that last fact was what really pissed me off.

But you know what? For some reason all these things me even crazier about film photography. I guess when something bad happens and it makes you even more eager to keep going and do better, then its something you really are crazy about. Is something you love. The Japanese have a term for it, which my Tokyo-based uncle taught me: "Camera baka" "Baka" meaning crazy, or "being crazy about". I finally understood why Lomographers here in the Philippines always say "shoot lang ng shoot". I used to think it was a pretty haphazard atitude towards photography, but now it became kind of a little cheer. "di bale na yung roll, shoot lang ng shoot!" "di bale na yung camera, get another one at shoot lang ng shoot!" I mean, with digital, you aren't in any danger of mis-loading or accidentally exposing. Its a pretty straightforward exercise. Which on one hand is great because you get to focus more on composition and lighting and other techniques. The thing is, with film, you learn those things too, but with a side order of patience and perseverance. It makes you a better person, especially when you're so used to digital. You go through a lot more to get what you want and it kind of makes the result sweeter.

I felt that today when I finally got through a roll without a single hitch. In fact I even had the quickest turnaround time - from exposing to development - a single afternoon. This post's pictures are from a lunch at a family friend's house in Old Pasig with the Leica. Stuff I learned from today plus the last couple weeks:

1.  Nevermind if you expose a couple frames, make sure the film is fed properly into the camera before you close it up.

2. I really don't like Canon. This is a loaded statement, which I'll explain later.

3. Stop shooting wide open when your subject is far away. Depth of field can be measured in lengths, so if it wont reach, it'll blur. Besides, it was the afternoon, it wasnt THAT dark. Plus, film is FULL FRAME, not some dinky APS-C sensor.

4. The 1 over focal length shutter speed rule is there for a reason.  It wasnt even THAT dark.

5. Avoid going out on Friday nights, so you dont end up wasting your Saturday on sleep,  the day which should be spent burning rolls of sweet sweet film.

7. Its good to be nuts about something. Something you spend for without blinking, something you would go out of your way to do.

8. Shoot lang ng Shoot. Gago.

On to the pictures!