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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

I’ve learned two things in this process that are very “duh“ in retrospect:

1. 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!

2. 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
Our small dog chewing on an orange toy
My wife and dog sitting on our balcony in the sunlight
The courtyard of our apartment
My wife and dog sitting in the sunlight, inside our apartment
The exterior of our apartment
A local smoke shop
Our tiny sausage dog sniffing a plant
A long and straight sidewalk parallel with train tracks
Me training our small sausage dog while out on a walk
My wife standing outside our apartment building
Me walking with our dog, crossing a street
Me walking with our dog, next to a dumpster
The courtyard of our apartment building with the morning sun
My wife in the passenger seat of a car
A gas station
Our small dog in the backseat of our car
A close-up of the gas pump filling up our car
My wife carrying our dog up the staircase
My wife petting our dog in a hallway
Our dog standing next to his food bowls in our apartment
Our dog sleeping next to the window in our apartment
A pile of books on a chair in our living room
My wife, hidden under a blanket on the sofa

All of these photos were shot within the last few weeks, around our apartment / where we live.