Photographer in Me

I first picked up the camera in a 'serious' manner ten years ago. I was living in NYC for the summer with my sister and taking a photography class. I hiked all the way across town to B&H Photography and the salesman there helped me pick out a Nikon FM10 camera. I spent the summer with my teacher's words - "one roll of film per day" - going through my head as I snapped my way through the city. While certainly didn't take a roll of film per day (I was broke after all), I definitely got the message that great photography takes work and loads of patience.

Since my days in NYC, I have completely fallen off the wagon. While I had taken my little camera with me on every vacation, I got frustrated by the lack of instant results (I'm not so good at taking film to the store to develop) and blurry after bad image left me eager for a digital camera. I finally got one a few years ago and while it has served me well, my little point and shoot lacks all the artistry that photography can be.

So few months ago, in a 'I wanna create something' mode, I dusted off my Nikon FM10 in the hopes of finally being that photographer who takes fabulous shots! I even ordered a classic photography book to refresh my memory. Unfortunately, I'm realizing that my teacher from way back when was right....it takes a LOT of sucky pictures to get a good one. Unlike a digital camera where you can just delete away any unwanteds, with a film camera, I'm literally paying for the good, bad and the ugly. The whole thing is a trial. There are significantly fewer places that still sell film and even fewer that actually development. I'm stuck with CVS which turns out to be a hit or miss because after the time the machines don't work.

The silver lining to this story is the picture above (it's actually even better in print) and one or two others that I had on my last roll. I was sitting in a cafe in Cambridge and thought the light coming through the skylight was really beautiful and made awesome shadows on everything at the table below. This is one of the few shots I've taken in which the image I saw came out exactly as I wanted it to. I'm definitely learning to take my time, and be patient. For now, I'm going to persevere with the hope of making at least one gem out of every roll.