If you've been following along with me on Instagram, you've probably heard me raving non-stop about film. This summer I was kind of burned out with my personal work. I was struggling BIG time with creativity, motivation, ideas, self-doubt, weirdness and on and on and on. I am a creative person by nature and I ALWAYS have to be doing something, whether it be photography, sketching, knitting, dreaming, etc... But my creativity has to bring me joy. And excitement. And giddiness. There is a spark in me that has to ignited for me to love and enjoy it. And if that spark isn't there, well, then I'm basically just wandering around mopey and sad. 

Enter film.

Film was my summer challenge to myself. All of the cameras I had growing up were good old film cameras but I honestly knew NOTHING about film. And I was SO incredibly terrified of film. It was so different and way scarier than digital. I couldn't see what I was shooting. I couldn't change my angle if the first shot didn't work out. I couldn't make sure I was able to "recreate" what I had in my head. But I love learning new things, so I bought a Canon 1V from eBay, called up everyone I knew who shot film (thank you Ashley, Jamie and Jennifer) and basically just threw caution to the wind. 

What happened was magical. It saved me. It brought back my creativity. It let me get out of the rut of staring at the back of my camera and overanalyzing the image I created. It made me shoot for ME. It made me slow down and actually enjoy the process of "waiting" for the right moment to click that shutter. And that's just the photography side of things.

Film has made me a happier creative. It's made me a happier person, in general. I spend more time with my kids. I enjoy shooting and capturing them WAY more than I did with my digital camera. Film brought magic to the art for me. The unknown is magical. The process is magical. The moments are magical. Our life is magical. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm still terrified of film. I break out into a cold sweat every time my scans come through just waiting for disaster. And yep. Some images are absolutely awful. But most are magical.  They may not be technically perfect. The composition may be all off. I might have chopped a limb off. But you know what, the magic is still there....

Now usually when you start out shooting film, it's recommended to pick ONE stock of film and shoot with that so you get a good understand of exposure, how the stock reacts to light, yada yada yada. But yeah, I hate rules, so I basically threw caution to the wind and have shot every stock I could order from Amazon and B&H photo. I thought it would be fun to share some of our summer FILM photos here on the blog and decided to break them down by stock to maybe help out anyone who might be interested in shooting film/learning more about film. 

First up is Fuji Superia Xtra 400 (35mm)

-This is a consumer stock and you grab it at Wal-Mart and a few other local places (pharmacies, etc..).

-has only 24 exposures (which I kind of love because I'm always jones-ing to finish a roll)!

-It has an ISO of 400, so it's a pretty good choice when it comes to most any type of daytime lighting.  

-Kicks BUTT in full sun (but seriously, all film rocks in full sun)

-Pretty saturated colors

-Gorgeous skin tones when overexposed (it likes overexposure)

-Little grain

And here's a look at some of our summer shot with Fuji Superia Xtra 400!!