My 3 Reasons For Using Film On Your Wedding Day

A question I sometimes get is "Why do you use film?" In this day and age of iPads, SD cards and digital SLRs and phone cameras, it is a bit odd for someone to keep using film. 

While there are a multitude of reasons that I still continue to use film to this day, I'll list my 3 biggest reasons and especially how it applies to a wedding day. It should be noted that I still bring a digital SLR with me for certain uses but a majority of images I shoot (if not all) are on film.

Reason #1: The Film Look
I love the look of film. Love it. There's just something about it. The images I'm able to get using film feel very organic. I personally use a 35mm Leica camera with black and white film to achieve a certain look. The "skin-tone-focused" films have amazing color and they are my "go to" for weddings (Kodak Portra 400 and 800 being my favorites right now). 
I feel very blessed to be able to have both film and digital technologies at my disposal. However, on any given trip or assignment, I'll have film with me.

Reason #2: It's Tangible
Instant prints! Negatives! The Dark room is a ... well, it's dark. There is something quite magical about holding the photographs in negative form and seeing, in your hands (and not on a computer screen) the negative of the image you've taken. It's real. It's there. It's not 1's and 0's. 

Instant photography is just as awesome and tangible in a different way. Take the picture, let the picture develop and... a few minutes later, you have a real print in your hands. This is a one of a kind print! 

Reason #3: The Approach
Not having an LCD screen on the back of the camera actually helps me. Instead of constantly checking a screen, I find that I am more "in the moment" and looking for the next photographic opportunity to come together.

Mind you, being able to check the photo on the spot is very useful in certain situations but I find that working without helps me be able to track and photograph moments when the time is right. Being a documentary photographer at weddings, this is huge for me as moments are passing by very quickly and I like to keep my eyes open for new moments instead of LCD screens and histograms.

---

I'd love to hear from you if you're ever interested in questions about film and also the documentary approach I use. Feel free to comment below or send me an email :)

-Jonathan Desmond-

Medium Format B&W

It's been very sunny and hot here in Vancouver. However, not that long ago, it was pouring rain. During that time, I took out a medium format camera to play around for a bit (Bronica ETRS). I don't usually bring out medium format as I still prefer using 35mm (size). However, the quality with medium format is quite something. For most of my personal work, I find it a bit much to carry multiple cameras, especially a heavy medium format camera (I tried carrying two of them around the Stanley Park Sea Wall and promptly cancelled my gym membership). 

There's a whole debate I can start on this but I'll save that for another blog entry. Experimenting and playing around with different cameras gives me insight into different options to ultimately accomplish my vision, which is... really... the main goal of this whole photographic thing. I just want to make a nice photograph in the end. And for me, at least, 35mm just fits me for multiple reasons (style, native print format being wider, easier to carry, faster lenses to name a few) but the main one being... well, it just clicks with me.

Anyways, enough babble on that. If I feel the urge, I'll return to it another time and blog on it again! For now, images:

A Visit To Japan - Part 4

The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove led us to an intersection that allowed us to head in different directions. Head North and you can see some of the larger temple areas. Head South and walk along the river towards a famous bridge and potentially a monkey park. We opted instead to go up the nearby hill, which led us to a place called "Okouchi Sansou."

After exploring the beautiful and peaceful gardens of Okouchi Sansou, slept and made our trip the next day to the famous Kiyomizu-dera temple. It is here where we decided to have a little fun and dress up in kimonos. I have to say that I was not used to walking around in wooden sandals and a heavy gown but it was surprisingly comfortable despite walking up and down the hilly area of Kiyomizu-dera. 

We later visited the area of Nara, which is a city a good distance away from Kyoto. It is here that deer roam freely in some of the parks and are quite tame... right up until they realize you have food or food-like objects on you.

At this point in the trip, I was starting to run out of film and decided to conserve my shots. With just a few frames left on a roll of black and white film, I took photographs of the Fushimi-Inari Shrine at night (we arrived quite late and were literally poking around in the haunting darkness) and finished the roll with just a few frames left in the geisha area known as Gion in Kyoto.

A section of Okouchi-Sanso

Okouchi-sanso

Okouchi-sanso

Okouchi-sanso

Okouchi-sanso

Okouchi-sanso

The fences in the bamboo grove are made of... bamboo!

Arashiyama, Kyoto

Rental Kimono Okamoto in Kiyomizu-dera

Rental Kimono Okamoto in Kiyomizu-dera

:)

Children school groups were everywhere in Kiyomizu-dera.

Kiyomizu-dera temple

Deer of Nara

With onlookers like myself looking on, two guys from a shop in Nara pound and create delicious mochi the old-fashioned way.

The Fushimi Inari shrine area has a hike that goes for about two hours through these torii style gates. As we arrived very late, it started to get very dark very quickly. Before we knew it, we were enveloped in darkness going through a trail in Japan in almost absolute quiet. After we noticed it starting to elevate and we found ourselves stumbling in the dark, we decided to turn around and call it a day. 

This last images was actually my absolute last frame of film on me. Serendipitously, we ran into a group of maiko (or people dressed up as maiko) and I asked if they were OK with my taking their photo. They were cool with it and I took the photo and that was it... my film was done!