When I “officially” started this journey a few weeks ago, I was busy to say the least… My sister and brother-in-law were closing on a house, I was preparing to go move back to college, I had seven sessions to photograph, and then throw in a million other little things! It was craziness. Now that things have slowed down a bit, I got the chance to make a more personal post about “The Way I See”.
As a student, life is kind of a whirlwind – you have so many things to juggle and you can’t anticipate any of it to slow down after graduation. All last year, I worked really hard to get a photography class to our campus for this fall semester. I am happy to report that I am currently enrolled in a film photography class. There are so many feelings I have about this… I’m excited, nervous, joyful, anxious, proud.
This is just another element to the journey I have started.
Like I wrote before, I have loved photography for quite a few years now and constantly worked on developing my skills, ideas, and future with photography. Starting a photography page on Facebook (you can find it here) and a blog was a huge deal for me. Everything became real. Photography was finally my reality. Now, it is so refreshing and encouraging having a photography course on campus to expose myself to the darkroom and film – pure photography. The foundation. The basics. The core.
Learning these foundational elements of photography will hopefully make me value what I create and can create with digital photography. Digital is all I have ever known.
When I pick up the film camera, something I am beginning to become familiar with, I feel as if I have a wonderful tool in my hands. Understanding the core of photography is valuable, and I am trying to find value in every photo I take with the film camera. I do feel funny when I snap a photo and then have the instinct to look at the screen (that isn’t there) to see the photo, that’s going to take some getting used to!
It’s funny… My dad has an old Pentax film camera that I’ve always viewed as a “prop” in this day and age of photography. I laugh now, thinking how it is not even close to being a prop, but something I can learn to implement in my work. I cannot wait to get my hands on that camera now! I want to know everything about that camera!
Don’t let me fool you; I am prepared for a difficult journey of learning film in a digital age. I have only had three film classes thus far and there is so much left to learn, but I’m ready. I’m ready to fail and to try again and to fail again. I’m ready to create. Why not give my everything and learn something new?
This is “The Way I See”. This is another part of my journey with photography. I want to be able to give photography all I can at this point in my life, and I am prepared to do so. So for now, I’ll be seeing the world through the lens of a film camera as often as I can.
I can see a lot of bills and receipts for film in my near future…
Film photography isn’t dead. Don’t believe it.
– Kara
