When I started picking up film photography as a hobby again, I read a lot of material on the art to try to figure out what I had missed in the ten years since I owned a film camera. One of the most often repeated things I heard was that I should probably stick with negative film, as shooting slides was very difficult. Aside from one roll of Kodachrome that I shot last year, I’ve mostly avoided slides. However, approximately a year and a half since I bought my first film SLR, I thought it was time to take the dive into shooting slides.
This post is a little different. If you would like, I’ve included an audio player below with a selection from archive.org titled “Figure Dance: The Fairy reel” recorded in 1933. The digital recording is under a Creative Commons 3.0 attribution license, so you can find the original source page here if you’d like. The music is just a bit of fun and in no way is related to the story that is to unfold here.
Given the fact that I tend to be a bit loyal to Kodak for film stocks since film school, my first stop when looking for a slide film to shoot was the Kodak Ektachrome line. Slide, or reversal film differs from negative film in that the process produces a positive slide that can either be projected or seen on a light table without needing to invert the colors. Unlike color negative film which uses the C41 chemical process and can be developed at every corner drugstore, slide film must be sent off to a lab to be processed with E6 chemicals. Some slide films, like the Ektachrome, can also be cross-processed, that is to say processed with the color negative chemicals to produce an effect that’s different than what a traditional slide would offer. Put a bookmark there, as I did not do that this time around, but probably will in the near future.
After having a rather stressful start to my fall semester (one of the joys of working in higher education), I decided to take two days off to go out into the city and shoot. The first day, unfortunately, I was rained out, but I managed to get a few shots in before the weather forced me home, giving me some interesting frames with really soft light.
When I was told that slide film was extremely unforgiving, the people weren’t lying. You have to nail the exposure completely, or you end up with situations like the above, where the sign is overexposed because it was a light source.
On the other side of the spectrum there is this shot which was about a stop or two underexposed. The only reason it’s visible here is because the lab pushed it during the scanning process as is evident by the large grain if you click to enlarge it.
This, however, started giving me an indication of what the film was capable of. The color reproduction is amazing and much more true to life than the negative films I had been shooting with before.
Never a dull (or quiet) moment in San Francisco…
Of the images taken this day, this is probably my favorite. The blue glass reflected the gray sky just perfectly, giving a very melancholy feel.
This was a test of one of my lenses. I went out with the Pentacon 50 and the Pentacon 135mm. I made a discovery about my adaptor rings a few days back that made me realize that I was using the 50mm completely wrong. Now that I know how to use it, it’s an amazing lens.
This shot I could not resist. There was a flock of about five of these meter maid tricycles parked in front of a coffee shop.
With the rain coming down, I hopped a Muni Metro back to downtown and caught a glimpse of this aircraft carrier, in town for fleet week. Quasi-defeated, I decided that if the weather was nice the following day, I would go out and try again, this time with a planned route.
The following day the weather cleared up and I decided to start my journey where else, but at our local landmark. My route was going to take me from Crissy Field all the way to the Ferry Building, a 5.4 mile walk.
First, however, I was going to shoot around Crissy Field, as I had a point of comparison between the slide film and other stocks I’ve shot there.
One thing that immediately impressed me upon viewing the pictures was the stock’s handling of fog. For some reason the fog seems more translucent with this stock, allowing for more to be seen behind it.
A point of comparison from my previous expeditions here.
Where this film simply blows everything else I’ve shot out of the water, however, is the reproduction of skin tones and the color blue. It’s absolutely amazing how those turn out if you get the exposure right.
The sky looked a bit gloomy and I was halfway paranoid if it starting to rain again.
It’s cliché, I know, but I couldn’t resist.
The walk down Crissy Field and into the Marina area provides a few good vantage points of the bay.
The receding fog and high humidity in the air produced a weird effect when looking out at Alcatraz, making it seem like a sort of magical island.
Combined with the telephoto lens effect, the island just looms over these workers installing a sea wall.
A park bench, because I felt like it.
Now that the fog was mostly cleared up, I was starting to have some problems. The absolute worst time of day to shoot is at noon due to the sun being almost directly overhead and causing really harsh lighting conditions. Combined with how tricky the exposure is with this film, I ended up with many shots looking like this.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
However, when correctly compensated for, the results were pretty amazing.
After winding my way through the Marina, I cut through the park at Fort Mason.
In this picture, I fail as a photo journalist, as I didn’t write down who statue guy was.
Now in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, I started getting hungry.
First, however, I had some color pinwheels to photograph.
It amuses me going back and looking at these knowing that the wind was actually blowing fairly rapidly, but the pinwheels are completely still. Due to the light being so harsh, I had my shutter speed up really high, which completely froze any motion these things had.
The source.
The first leg of my hike was over, and I needed some seafood. This place, despite being on the tourist trap that is Pier 39 is actually pretty good.
Extremely shallow depth of field due to shooting with the 50mm at f1.8, which is wide open on that lens.
This donut shop is good too, but I did not partake after that epic lunch. I needed to walk those calories off, so I continued on my journey.
Somewhere near there on the fence there is a Kodak “photo op” sign.
It has eyes.
The Bay Bridge.
This fire truck came screaming down the street…
…only to have the crew inside calmly stroll down this pier.
At last, I had reached the Ferry Building. Given how hot of a day it was and how tired I feld after the hike, I decided I needed a cold beverage.
If you’re in the area and you get a chance, get one of their iced coffees. It’s worth it.
While the film performed very well outdoors in sunlight, indoors with muted lights it didn’t do so well.
After I left the Ferry building, I made my way across Justin Herman plaza to take the train home. Justin Herman is usually populated by skateboarders and BMX bikers, and that day was no different. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a skateboarder preparing to do a trick, so I whipped around and prayed that my focus was right…
…and out of sheer luck managed to grab that shot. I looked for other opportunities to grab some more action shots, but none arose.
The afternoon light was much less harsh, but still too difficult to shoot in. I made my way to the entrance of the BART station and found myself smack in the middle of the OccupySF protest.
I finally made my way back to the lab to drop off my film.
Ektachrome is a really interesting film stock to shoot with. I absolutely love the colors and the way the entire stock looks and feels. I think I may need to try this stock in 120 format. The next roll I shoot, however, will be cross processed, just so I can see what that looks like.
Until next time…
