Getting back into #Film Photography
Amitava “Chats” Chatterjee aka @Chatsphotog
My father taught me the basics of photography on his 1969 Nikon F1 SLR camera. It was amazing to learn the relationships between film speed, shutter speed, and aperture, how to prevent blurry shots and freeze movement. Good times.
Despite his influence, I gave up on hardcore photography for several decades. I guess I was busy growing up and learning about adulthood. Somewhere along the way, my father gave me an Olympus compact film camera, which was fun, much simpler than the old Nikon, and very easy to use. Even then, I didn’t do much with it save for a few rolls that were shot at home, on boring subjects like flowers, with some travel pics, but nothing special.
In 2009, well into my digital photography reincarnation, a very dear friend asked me if I wanted his Leica M6 Millennium Edition rangefinder. Only 2000 pieces were ever made, and he had one of them. I immediately felt a deep joy coupled with a pang of anxiety. I had given up on film and was totally enamored by the “ease” and “immediacy” of digital images. I was, however, spending time with them, trying to emulate the “film look” with various plugins and actions. Seems silly, doesn’t it? I took the plunge, bought the camera, and went on a trip where I ran a roll through it. I quickly went through one, then another, and another. I took the exposed rolls to the Leica Store in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, and asked them to develop them for me. A few days later, I returned, and the kind store associate apologetically told me (as if it were his fault) that the rolls were blank. I hadn’t loaded the film correctly. My face turned beetroot-red, as I recall. He offered to show me how to properly load film into the Leica M6. I left the store quickly, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I half-heartedly finished the roll, and never touched the Leica M6 for seven years.
We have been in a global pandemic (and will soon be out of it, hopefully) for the past fifteen months or so. I often thought about pulling my Leica M6 out again, but really didn’t feel like it, so it stayed, untouched, in its storage box in my camera gear closet. Finally, about a month ago, I decided enough was enough, and bought some Ilford FP4 Plus film, and quickly followed it up with an order of Ilford Delta 100 Professional. I also ordered new chemicals for at-home development, since the ones I had were over seven years old.
I love street photography when I can get somewhere with people. During the pandemic, it has been a lot of rural areas, farms, cows, rolling hills and pastures, and plenty of Shenandoah Valley National Park. Being out in the streets of Washington D.C. has been extremely therapeutic, and I have enjoyed my exploits with film. Here are some sample images for your viewing pleasure.
I have developed four rolls of film at home in the last two weeks — two of Kodak Tri-X 400, and two Ilford FP4 Plus. It took me roughly four hours to scan the first two rolls, totalling 72 exposures, not including wet negative drying time. The second batch took a little over three hours. Developing film at home is certainly a labor of love, and requires commitment, patience and time. I don’t have a print darkroom yet, so I have been scanning negatives on my Plustek Scanner using VueScan. This combo works very well. I hope I do not lose my newly found love for the film medium. Time will tell.
Amitava “Chats” Chatterjee is an active member of the global Leica family. He frequents various Facebook Leica Photography groups, is published in LHSA’s The Viewfinder, and its proofreader-at-large. You can find him at www.chatsphotog.com, Facebook (@Chatsphotogpilot) or Instagram (@Chatsphotog).
