Derping Around With a Toy Camera
October 31, 2023
My recent YouTube bender, Nick Carver, has sent me on a minor film-photography bout. Watching him scout, compose, and execute a single frame with surgical precision was kindling for me to start derping around with film. (Seriously – this guy will take days, if not weeks going after a single photo!)
As with any addiction, I need to start small. So I bought a Kodak Ektar H35N. This is the first roll of film (Kodak Ultramax 400) I've ever developed on my own! (Excluding a few disposable cameras I had as a child – but I didn't even know they used film.)
![Me walking my tiny sausage dog](/assets/2023/toy-camera-10.jpg)
I’ve learned two things in this process that are very “duh“ in retrospect:
- Most people don’t find film novel or particularly exciting. This is likely because anyone older than me grew up with film cameras as the norm, only a handful of years ago. The technology isn’t old enough to be ”cool” just yet – but I feel like it’s getting there with Gen-Z folk like myself!
- These photos look so cool without any post-processing! I now stupidly realize that most modern photo editing attempts to recall aspects of the “film look“. So when you actually use film, you get the cool effect by default. Duh.
![Doors with windows leading to the balcony of our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-1.jpg)
![Our small dog chewing on an orange toy](/assets/2023/toy-camera-2.jpg)
![My wife and dog sitting on our balcony in the sunlight](/assets/2023/toy-camera-3.jpg)
![The courtyard of our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-4.jpg)
![My wife and dog sitting in the sunlight, inside our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-5.jpg)
![The exterior of our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-6.jpg)
![A local smoke shop](/assets/2023/toy-camera-7.jpg)
![Our tiny sausage dog sniffing a plant](/assets/2023/toy-camera-8.jpg)
![A long and straight sidewalk parallel with train tracks](/assets/2023/toy-camera-9.jpg)
![Me training our small sausage dog while out on a walk](/assets/2023/toy-camera-11.jpg)
![My wife standing outside our apartment building](/assets/2023/toy-camera-12.jpg)
![Me walking with our dog, crossing a street](/assets/2023/toy-camera-13.jpg)
![Me walking with our dog, next to a dumpster](/assets/2023/toy-camera-14.jpg)
![The courtyard of our apartment building with the morning sun](/assets/2023/toy-camera-15.jpg)
![My wife in the passenger seat of a car](/assets/2023/toy-camera-16.jpg)
![A gas station](/assets/2023/toy-camera-17.jpg)
![Our small dog in the backseat of our car](/assets/2023/toy-camera-18.jpg)
![A close-up of the gas pump filling up our car](/assets/2023/toy-camera-19.jpg)
![My wife carrying our dog up the staircase](/assets/2023/toy-camera-20.jpg)
![My wife petting our dog in a hallway](/assets/2023/toy-camera-21.jpg)
![Our dog standing next to his food bowls in our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-22.jpg)
![Our dog sleeping next to the window in our apartment](/assets/2023/toy-camera-23.jpg)
![A pile of books on a chair in our living room](/assets/2023/toy-camera-24.jpg)
![My wife, hidden under a blanket on the sofa](/assets/2023/toy-camera-25.jpg)
All of these photos were shot within the last few weeks, around our apartment / where we live.