Film Photography Reflections

            While shooting with my experimental film group this past weekend, I became better acquainted with the Pentax camera as a whole. I had already used it for an almost identical project in Andre’s class, but this time I was more fluid with its settings; they were no longer morasses of numbers, but tools with which to film in a different and unique way.

            The fact that we were not restricted to one location like in Andre’s class proved one of the most valuable aspects of the project. The restraints on the types of shots (requiring 2 each of extreme close-ups, close-ups, medium shots and long shots) was a mistake in the guidelines of the project, but we were still able to produce some very interesting subjects.

            While many natural subjects might include plants and machinery, we tried to veer toward other things, such as objects and building interiors and blends between them.

            I’ve always found that lighting is given a different emphasis in monochrome filming, to a particularly dramatic and naturally eye-catching way. We decided building interiors would be interesting in this light (pun intended) due to the nature of windows and reflections involved. We therefore decided to take pictures of windows in the parking garage here on campus and Watson education building, with emphasis that might not be present in full color.

            While shooting on film cameras proved a large artistic hindrance, we were able to walk around enough to really take notice of interesting areas and subjects of interest and capture parts of them. I’ve always found that substance is far more important than empty style, and even that substance allows for the best style to flower from it. In much the same way, we decided to take our time in deciding on what picture to take, and then take it.