Purchasing Expired Film: Hit or Miss?

If you’re anything like me, you do a daily Ebay hunt to get those super deals from unsuspecting sellers who may not know how much the item they are selling is really worth.

From time to time, i truly strike GOLD and come across things I’ve been searching for for a long while AT CRAZY PRICES.

One of my most frequent searches is film, either 35mm or 120, since this is primarily what I shoot.

Recently, I came across not just one but TWO deals on film..my luck was on fire..or at least i was thinking this when i purchased the items.

There was only one catch with both films, they were both expired…

My Day with Lomo Film

hello everyone 🙂

For all you film photographers out there, I’m sure you’ve heard the whispers (or loud arguments) of how Lomography film is primarily a “novelty” “not to be taken seriously” or “not to be used professionally”

I know I have..I never really knew why people were saying these things

Whenever I used to pass by the NYC Store to get some 120 film developed/scanned (before I started to do myself) they were pretty nice to me

I admit I never bought the Lomo film while in store…but hey you never know right?

Well one day…I was having a some fun shooting on the streets and after finishing a roll I reached in my bag for more film and discovered I had forgotten to pack more film

I just happened to be near the store so I decided to go for it and purchase some of the Lomo Color Negative 400 ISO film

The 3 rolls right before i developed at home using the Tetenal C41 Kit

I purchased a pack of 3 rolls, loaded my M6 and went back out into midtown Manhattan

I’d like to share these results with you now and give my opinion afterwards

  
  

And now for my thoughts…

I honestly wish I would’ve tried out this film sooner.

I think it performed AMAZINGLY and the character of the film really added to the shots that I took

Maybe it’s me and my preference for how the good shot is made and developed…maybe i’m biased because it’s my own work…maybe i just love film photography so much that it’s hard for me to hate ANYTHING about it haha..or maybe this is a really good film with a bad rap..in either case, i’m happy with these shots and had fun experimenting with this film

This just goes to show that you can never take someone Else’s word on something.. go out and try it yourself and come to your own conclusions.

It’s the only way to really know

I don’t think this will be the last time I shoot Lomo film, I hear that their black and white 35mm is very good also!

Be sure to check out Lomography’s great site with some interesting articles and examples of work

http://www.lomography.com/

Peace and Blessings everyone

Developing C41 (Color Negative) Film at Home

Could it really be easier than developing Black and White film?

Ted Forbes from one of my favorite YouTube channels, The Art of Photography, definitely thinks so.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been thinking that the main reason why you don’t hear about more people developing color film at home is due to it being pretty complicated.

After watching this video Ted released recently on the steps taken to mix, make and develop with the chemicals it definitely does not look as difficult as I had first thought!