june 11, 2022
Written by Irene colgan
Remember the simple days. When we didn't worry about seatbelts, drinking out of the hose, home before dark and never having to lock your house doors? I'm talking to all you GenX'rs out there! Ahhh...that nostalgic feeling.
I've always had a love with photography and it doesn't fall far from the olive branch. A few years ago my daughter caught the bug and has played around with her digital camera a bit. Being an Art History major she's been exposed to some beautiful pieces of art and has played with a variety of mediums. Looking for a new way to explore art and her creative side, she fell in love with the vintage look of old photographs. So, she went on the hunt for a reasonable film camera that wasn't going to break the bank, but give her quality results. Not wanting anything complicated, the Diana Mini Picnic was the perfect fit for her and off she went learning to load and manipulate her new “toy” camera. Watching just how much fun she was having, I quickly though, "maybe I should get a film camera?”
I had only been researching for a bit, when my husband surprised me for our anniversary and gifted me a Nikon FM2. I took one look and thought, "HOW COOL is this camera!." I quickly got online to learn all about this retro beauty that was going to take me back to simpler times. I purchased all I needed to get me started on my new adventure of film photography and off I went, photographing everything around me. It didn’t take me long to finish of my first roll of color film and send it off to a professional printing lab for development. That got me thinking back again at how fun it used to be dropping off rolls of film at the local Fotomat kiosk.
It was always an after school trip as the drive up kiosk was located across the street from my high school. The small building with the bright yellow roof was the place to go to get your film developed. Simply drive up, fill out the envelope accordingly, fill the envelope with your film and hand it to the individuals working inside. Easy. It was always a quick 24hr turn around and always so exciting to look through the prints. Some good, and many blurry. I didn’t care. It was fun and I loved the process.
A short week after dropping off the color film of my random photographs taken with my “new” FM2, my prints were back and I was happy with the results. The colors on the prints were nice and did have an old school charm to them. I loaded my FM2 up again, but this time with good ol’ black and white film and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of what the ILFORD black/white film gives. I’ve learned a lot from use of my film camera. It’s simple and I love that about it. The best feeling is getting my prints…taking me back old school style.
-thisisme...irene