Rediscovering Film

It's been a while since I last loaded a film into the back of a camera and waited to see what happened after clicking the shutter.

And it's become a whole lot more expensive in the interim also.

Having spent a whole £50 on a basic 90s Canon (EOS 500), I looped it over my should and took it on a trip to Marrakesh in early 2023 to see how it would fare.

MARRAKESH

Canon EOS 500 

Kodak Portra 800 & Cinefilm 400 & a black and white film but can't remember the make or speed and stuff :)

First film out the bag was one of the aforementioned films, I think a Kodak Portra 800, but who really knows at this point, it was months ago.

Getting up for sunrise over the city, as seen from our Riad's rooftop terrace was a special way to start the day - especially the light coming up over the distant mountains.

Having never used the these film stocks before, and having done little to no research because time is not a concept I have been able to grasp, I didn't quite know what to expect with it in combination with the naturally earthy palette of Marrakesh's walled city. Luckily, the oranges, yellows and golds come through really strong in a lot of these shots, and I love how dark the shadows are.

My use of the camera itself however, needed some work. And getting a feel for the plastic-bodied Canon, and what it was trying to tell me whilst lining up shots took some time.

Looking for a change of scene, and loading up a black and white film, we packed into a convoy of mini-buses and were soon scooting up into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, North Africa's biggest range. And en route we got lucky with some sweet views of a very different landscape and crisp blue skies*...

_{*It's a black and white shot so colourise with your mind's eye etc}

I really loved the grainy detail the basic kit lens managed to pick out in this landscape shot - captured on the side of the road on a toilet break from the mini-bus.

Whilst there are times that the black and white worked out (see top left, below), it felt like this was the wrong choice of film to load up in this instance, with the dark shadows absorbing the detail. Naturally, better setup (and post-processing) could help with this, but sooc images tended to veer into darker territory, eating up the rocky terrain and any sign of life within it.

The last shot above is a good example of the assumed shutter issue that has lost a high proportion of shots in more recent months.

There's certainly some learning to be done with both black and white, film speeds (which I was sure to double check the camera had read) and this camera - huge disparities to be taken into account in future, but I also like the overexposed shots of the palm tree in front of the Mosque.

I was also really taken by the patterns and light from the often ornate, and sometimes basic shelters which lay across the streets of the walled city.

And it wouldn't be a trip without a spot of local football watching.
Shout out to the kid in Batman kit <3

And where would we be without a KP appreciation grid? Here's one for the fans...

I especially love the luminosity of the light bulbs in the black and white shot - feels like an old Hollywood glow that'd be hard (for me) to achieve in digital post processing.

Whilst I didn't get the shot right with the harsher daylight against the vibrant blue with portrait in the garden the strong highlights detract focus, whereas the softer portrait against the natural colours works nicely.

And without active intention, or cropping - it's interesting how my age old 1/4 - 1/5 of the top of the frame left for empty space plays out here too. It's been 20 years of this and assume at this point it's just my look.

Overall, I'm really glad to have dived back into film for 6 months or so in 2023, despite the cost, which I was well aware of going into it.
Marrakesh was a great place to have tested both the camera and the films out with, but I can't help but wish I had a colour film for the mountains given the blue sky day we had.

Positives:
- That retro look and feel, without needing filters
- Images which can be blown up and printed at super-hi res in the future
- Valuable early learnings with very low stakes


Negatives:
- Fucking expensive way of achieving retro look and feel
- Lost images from some internal shutter issue previously unknown to me (worst case was losing 80% of all images on a holiday)
- Perhaps a neutral; but doing a better job of learning the film stock, what they're good at, and utilising for that purpose would produce better shots