I received all of my scans from our trip to Florida back from The FIND Lab last week and it was one of those rare times that I fell in love with so many frames as soon as I saw them. It usually takes a few looks for most of the images to grow on me, but not this time! They felt nostalgic the second I opened them, which is what I was going for. Maybe it had something to do with shooting very expired Ektar film that I had never heard of (Ektar 25) that presented gorgeous punchy colors that were somewhat soft and scratched, complete with some light leaks. Here are some shots from that roll. I have one canister left of that emulsion and I will be very carefully choosing the scenario that I'll be shooting it in, I love it that much!
This is me with my first baby. No waves in sight which broke my heart, but it felt good just to paddle around.
There was a loud afternoon storm happening, hence my eldest's uncertain expression.
I shot through 2 more rolls of Ektar 100 on 35mm and 2 rolls of it on 120mm. One of those medium format rolls I put through my Holga and only one image worked. The rest were far too dark. You need a TON of light for a Holga to work properly, and while I was experimenting with multiple exposures to increase the amount of light that hit the emulsion, it still wasn't enough for the vast majority of the frames. Here is the one that worked, taken of the girls exploring my favorite fort when I was young, Fort Pickens:
The other Ektar 100 medium format roll was shot on my Mamiya and they have become some of my favorite images ever shot, EVER. I left the girls with my parents, went back out to Ft. Pickens, and really took my time experimenting with some shots. I was very interested in capturing some slow shutter images of the Gulf of Mexico at dusk and while the conditions weren't as ideal as I was hoping, I was floored by how they came out regardless. I shot these at an 8 second shutter speed, rated at 100, after the sun had set. Take a look!
This just may be my favorite shot I've ever taken. I've already had it enlarged and ordered a custom-made poplar frame for it so that I can hang it somewhere in our house.
While out at the beach that same evening, I gave slide film another try as well. This was my third attempt and my best yet, but still a fail overall in my opinion. I'm getting closer to nailing exposure, but I still overexposed by about a stop on most of the frames since I was trying to compensate for the emulsion's expiration date. I suppose my dad's freezer works perfectly and I should shoot it as if it's brand new and fresh. This is Ektachrome 100 on 120mm...
And here are some favorites from the last of my 35mm Ektar 100. I will never get over the colors of Ektar. Now if only I can figure out how to shoot it handheld in low light, I'll never use another film stock :-p
We took the girls and their best friend to Big Kahuna's waterpark in Destin. These kiddos had SO much fun!
A purposeful light leak.
Even though 5 out of 7 rolls I shot were Ektar, I still brought along some Portra 400 for the times I knew that I would be indoors and if was excessively overcast. Here are some images from the one roll of Portra I shot on vacation. We ended up having to make an overnight stop on the long trek back home, so the Portra came in handy. In my defense, it was a 14 hour drive by myself with 2 kids and a Great Dane :-p
I'm fairly certain that my children are incapable of making a normal expression when they know their picture is being taken.
Proof of a solid vacation.
Finally, I also shot a lot of Polaroids on this trip...far more than usual. I really enjoyed it and I'm surprised that I don't bring out my SX-70 more. I'll have to change that!
And that's it for our trip to Florida! Our next big trip will be to New York City for a week in October...gotta get my Leica M6 repaired before then. Also, I successfully boiled, soaked, and processed a new roll of film soup and I love the results. I'll blog those next week!