Adam Trahan: 35mm Film

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There are two labs that I have primarily used for my development and scanning. I fired one because I put so much time and energy into my photography. When they would blow the development, I was told to “embrace the imperfection of film…” Nope, that’s hand developing mistakes, I’m not going to put up with your imperfection. So now I’m using a lab that processes by machine, much better.

But anyway…

When I learned about the process of photography in the mid seventies, I used Kodak film. It was readily available. After taking pictures, I took the cartridge to the lab to have it developed and get prints. I took those prints and placed them in a photo album. I did that until the Internet changed the way I store my photos. My photo albums stopped being made about that time, they became virtual, available by computers and later, telephones.

Presently, I am returning to film and getting back to making prints and putting together 4”x6” photo books. I detail the chronology of my photography here as well. I blog about it and share in a hybrid fashion but at home, my little photo books are in a big stack and it’s growing.

I like my photo albums; I carry one in my travel bag. The pictures are of my family, my dog and cats, the things I do and the things I used to do as well as favorite images that I want more of.

My iPhone 16pro takes phenomenal photographs, the camera in my phone actually doesn’t require any skill. I pull it out of my pocket, hit the button to open the camera app and start pecking away taking photos. My phone has 1 terabyte of memory so I can take a massive amount of exposures. If I don't need them, I delete them to preserve some of the memory. I take my phone and print from the Internet (to Walgreens or where ever) and that's how I do it with the phone camera.

My Nikon F6 and D780 are great cameras that share the same set of auto focus lenses. These two do it all.

My F3 and favorite Nikkor Lens are for keeping sharp with manual focus photography. I take pictures and create memories; film goes to the lab, scans get sent in email, images go into iPhone memory and printed and used online for what ever.

That’s the process.

I'm still learning analog photography with my 40 year old film equipment. I am learning how to make the film speak one thousand words…

I have experience now and a lot of resources in photography friends, new and old but I'm still learning.

...this is where I'm at now.

I love film.

Do you have a favorite film type?

Do you have any advice, suggestions?

What is your story?

My next move is to start metering with a dedicated light meter. Then I’ll start putting together a medium format camera, right now I’m looking at a Mamiya 645.

As far as film goes, I like Fuji Velvia, Kodak Potra and E-100, Ilford HP5+ are my favorites.

At this time, a roll of 36 exposures cost between $20 to $40 per roll. I have to buy Fuji from shops in Japan through order houses. Development and scanning is a minimum of $25 per roll. The film plus the dev/scan makes each press of the shutter release about $2 each. In the last year, I have processed 30+ rolls of film. The math? Film is expensive, feeding four cameras is a lot. I’m just using the F6 now and the F3 is when I get in a mood, it’s a good mood.

I love film photography.

Random thought, I really like Kodak Portra 800, I think I read somewhere Kodak stopped making it. I know they still produce Portra 400. It was a bummer. I started investigating and found that was falsely stated, I read it on a blog. Kodak is still producing it. The post was an April Fools joke. I was about to buy a bunch of it.

I’m now trying Portra 160, setting the camera for 100 ISO, developing as normal.

I’ve shot my best roll with Kodak E-100. It is really good film, I like it better than Ektar.

Earlier this year, I bought a digital SLR, the Nikon D780, it’s a lens junkies DSLR. With a digital camera, pictures are close to perfect each time however, the magic is not there like it is with film. But I do enjoy being able to take a lot of pictures, making adjustments on the fly and previewing the results.

The risk and reward is higher with film. When it all comes together with film, it’s so much more rewarding.

So much more.

I hope a little film magic shows in the pages found within my blog.

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Fuji Provia color slide film (E-6 processing)

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Fuji Velvia color slide film (E-6 processing)

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Fuji Velvia color slide film (E-6 processing)

I absolutely love Velvia 50 for the intense bright sun. I have to buy all my Fuji film from Amazon. There are chemicals on these films (Provia and Velvia) that are banned in the USA. I still use it. The below left picture is from my F3 and the Nikkor 15mm f3.5 AIS. The below center and right pictures are from the same roll with the Nikkor 35mm f1.4 AIS. Velvia colors rendered in intense bright sun with a Nikon NC filter is just amazing.

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Kodak Ektar-100 color slide film (E-6 processing)

I had my first real full roll of film through my FE2 that almost every photograph made me happy. A roll of nearly all keepers. I’m getting to know E-100 and it’s readily available.

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Kodak Ektar color negative film (C-41 processing)

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Kodak Portra color negative film (C-41 processing)

Wow, I’m really liking Portra 800 with my Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AIS. Note to self: Use Portra 800 more. It makes nice pics. I’m going to shoot it more often in the future. Below are a few shots with this combo through the FG.

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Kodak Kodacolor color negative film (C-41 processing)

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Ilford black and white negative film (standard B&W developing)

This roll of HP five was shot through my F3 and my Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AIS with a Nikon Y52 (yellow) filter. I need to study more on the use of filters. How does a yellow filter affect black and white film? It darkens the sky and increases contrast, that’s what I understand. The time I spend taking pictures is not optimal. Not golden hour, before sunset or blue hour, first light. Nope, I’m out there in the bright blown out AZ sun. I need to get better at intense sunlight photography and really take advantage of blue and golden hour.

I like Ilford for black and white film. I’m starting to shoot more, it’s fun. I’m studying the techniques in shooting it. I don’t do any post production manipulation of any of my photos. They are all straight from dev/scan.

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Ilford black and white negative film (standard B&W developing)

I’m actually pretty new to B&W film. I don’t have an opinion on HP5, FP4+ or Delta 100. I just don’t know enough about Ilford. That’s going to take some time. I do know that busy pictures look good and are easy to take. On the opposite side, very simple pictures get it done too. I’m going to work on my black and white game.

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Ilford black and white negative film (standard B&W developing)

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Ilford black and white negative film (standard B&W developing)

Although it’s only one roll that I went through, I’m not a huge fan. But, in the right place, this could be killer for the feels. Definitely dark and moody, the large grain, but detail. I’m going to buy another roll to have on hand, for the desert.

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Flic Film color slide film (E-6 processing) 100 asa

The local film lab guys suggested this film. I told them I liked E-100 and they said try this. I was told this is 35mm movie film re-purposed for film camera usage. I really like the idea of it yet I’m slightly apprehensive of the plastic cartridge it comes in. I’ll check it out soon.

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