For those who like learning about film: This was a “hybrid shoot” with a digital camera (5D III) and a film camera (Contax 645). Because the Contax 645 shoots medium format film where each frame is 6″x4.5″ (hence the name Contax 645), anything with a 6:4.5 aspect ratio (or 3:4) is film. Anything that is 2:3 in this shoot is digital. I like making film and digital flow well together. What is funny is how long it takes in editing to get the digital pictures to flow well with film, while I spent zero time editing the film pictures. Both mediums have their merits though. I get more spontaneous moments on digital when I blast three shots in a row during a sweet moment. I am not concerned with overshooting and therefore I can catch the split second moment that I may have not otherwise shot on film. On film, I tend to only shoot when I know it will be good because each shot costs money. In effect, nearly all of my film pictures look awesome, require very little sorting or editing, but with digital, I may catch something special. More and more I am learning to catch these moments on film, learning to anticipate them in ways I haven’t had to when shooting only digital. Shooting film is forcing me to be a better photographer, and I love it. I will probably never abandon digital all together though, because I love pushing the front edge of technology to make art, and like I said it has many merits of its own for photography, not even considering the many terabytes of HD home videos I have shot on our 5D. Those are priceless memories that I could not have gotten on film.
Jordin and I are planning an overseas trip this winter, and I will probably bring my 35mm rangefinder (Zeiss Ikon ZM) for most photos and our 5D for home videos around the place we stay. This has been my latest “go-to” for our personal work, and I usually also bring the Contax 645 to engagements and weddings for the big pretty smeary pictures. For styled shoots, I typically shoot all film (Zeiss Ikon + Contax645 + EOS-3).
All the film in this shoot is Kodak Portra 400.