Rolls #2-3: Millie’s Journey to Colombia

Roll #2

Roll #3

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6/19-6/24/21

Film in the Southern Hemisphere:

Let’s go over some key talking points. Together, we’re going to explore topics like…

• Double Exposing
• Night Photography
• Wildlife Photography

So let’s get the elephant out of the room–what the heck is going on with exposures 34-40? You’re probably thinking that they look like mistakes, and you would be correct. But, I’d like to call them what the late Bob Ross would refer to as, happy little accidents. These are called double exposures, and they just look so weird.

One day, while I was taking blissful photos of flowers and graffiti, I goofed up and rewound my film into its canister. The roll was unusable unless I could find a way to retrieve the film leader (definition 1h) to reload Millie.

My local film lab helped me load the used film, and I had an opportunity to double expose the photos I already took. The film is just light-sensitive plastic that reacts to all light until development. So what did I learn from this double exposure experiment?

1. For one, double exposures require at least a semblance of foresight. In the future, I need to plan a bit more before I decide to mash two photos together like play dough.
   
2. Not all cameras are capable of double exposing consistently. As you can see, Millie cannot double expose because I cannot rewind a single frame. I needed to rewind the entire roll, and that caused the photos to collide.
   
3. Accept that double exposures on film are challenging to get perfect on the first attempt. Film is an imperfect medium in many ways, and it’s unreasonable to expect photographic perfection each exposure.

Personally, I don’t enjoy this section of Roll #2. Like a 90’s boy band, the photos don’t work isolated from each other. Instead, they need to be grouped together because of the spillover between frames. (Exposure #40 is pretty cool, though.)

After the double exposures, roll #2 is a bit lackluster, in my opinion. I blame myself for being impatient–I was very excited to see those double exposures. I think that a bit more insight into framing and lighting could benefit me long term.

I also feel that my ambition in the process of roll #2 acted as a double-edged sword. For example, shots 57-59 were experiments with nighttime photography. I wanted to test the waters and finally use my flash to light up a completely dark scene; number 59 was a photo taken in total darkness. Photos taken at night require a tripod, a shutter release cable, and an unreasonable amount of patience. On both rolls, shots 57-60 and 98-101 required a lot of set-up and resulted in images that are… okay? I guess I’ll let you be the judge.

One thing I am definitely proud of is my attempt at wildlife photography. Slow-moving, animal subjects were the focus of the wildlife photos, and I promise you, taking a picture of a snail moving on a film camera can be nerve-racking. Exposure 63 may seem like an easy image to capture, but I promise you, my palms were sweaty (knees weak, arms were heavy).

85 and 86 were difficult to capture because of the sheer speed of the ant colony, and I needed to set up my camera fast. However, this was not in vain; if I can capture an ant colony, I’m practically certified to take pictures of cheetahs. Exposures 75-84 feature a very photogenic duck that refused to be unseen. For image 82, the duck was barely a foot away from the camera lens–which brings me to my next point:

Pack a telephoto lens for wildlife photos. I was lucky that none of the animals captured on film didn’t want to maul my face and steal my camera. So please don’t do as I do, do as I say; this is all about learning from my mistakes. Respect wildlife and don’t poke bears. Here is a link diving into the ethical practices of wildlife photography!

There are many photos in both of these rolls that I am proud of and just as much if not more that require some improvement. My endgame is to fill rolls of film with pictures I can be proud of, and I think with time, effort, and maybe a dash of pixie dust, the quality will improve.

I understand that I skimmed most of my photos to talk about specific points, so if there’s anything you would like to say, feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to look at my collection! Come back to learn from my mistakes and check out my gallery to view all of my images with no commentary!