This year I have been travelling more than ever, which has reminded me just how much I love it. I had a week off in between shoots and decided to book myself a ticket to New York, a solo trip to shoot film, explore a new city & experience the vibrant culture of one of the most iconic cities in the world.
On this trip, I chose to bring only film cameras & challenged myself to some candid street photography… something i’ve always appreciated but had never practiced.
Last winter, I was contacted by one of my clients, TINCUP Whiskey with a unique project. They asked me to be in a TV commercial that was filming in Chile. I had the chance to co-star with some great talent including Renan Ozturk, Sam Elias, Max Lowe, Isaac Johnston & Nathan Martin. We filmed for a few days in the high alpine near Santiago. Check out the commercial below :
Each time I press my shutter, I spend between $1 - $5 on my film cameras. Each roll is between $8-20, some film like Polaroid FP-100c costs $60/pack giving you only 10 shots. Then you have developing and scanning costs which range between $15-30 per roll. On average, shooting one roll ends up costing me around $40.
How do I justify it? Film is like vinyl, it never goes out of style, it’s an analog process and an experiment, to me it is the lifeblood of photography and by shooting film, i’m staying broke but I feel like i’m a part of a community of photographers who are keeping the process alive, one roll at a time.
Shooting film has taught me to slow down, compose better images and overall improve my technical abilities as a photographer. I’ve invested a lot of time and money to keep this dream alive… for good reason.
Click through some examples of some film shots i’ve done below :
