think I’ve talked before about how I’ve made it back to my roots in re-learning film (or really learning correctly for the first time). The first SLR camera I had was a canon rebel 2000. I got it as a Christmas present from my parents when I was in college. I loved it. I went through rolls and rolls of film. I had no idea what I was doing and in some ways, I miss that blissful ignorance. All of my college and some of my grad school memories were all shot on film.

What I’ve loved about finding my way back to film is the way it slows me down. I’m intentional with every shutter click. I have a finite amount of exposures. I need to be present when I’m shooting film in a way that is different from digital. What I love about digital is the ability to experiment, to try new things and only worry about the space on my memory card. With film, it pulls at a different part of my creative being.

I tried to shoot a frame a day on this black and white roll. It ended up spanning a few different months (yes, it took me three months to get through one roll). Especially with black and white film, I had to wait for the situation to present itself to make the best use of the film. I got a little trigger happy at the beach as I had another roll of film that I wanted to use too while I was there, but overall, almost every shot on the roll was usable (woohoo!) and I’m in love with how my family was captured during this project.

I’d love to take on a few family sessions on film, so if this something that interests you, drop me an email at hello@melissaortendahlphotography.com!

Camera: Canon EOS A-1 | Film: 400 Tri-X rated at box speed | Developed at The Find Lab