Background Music: Pearl Jam - Daughter
the very first thing i noticed upon viewing scans of a developed Solaris 800 film was how damn grainy it is. this comes from someone who's only ever used one ISO800 film in his brief stint into the film photography niche, in which that very film was the same Solaris 800 film mentioned in the first sentence. i couldn't quite absorb all that grain the Solaris 800 produced, but i took a step back and came into terms that this was an ISO800 film after all.
the biggest blunder with my handling of an ISO800 film is not taking into consideration the fact that even with an ISO800 film, you need to expose the film an extra stop to let in the ambient light. here is where i learned from years of perusing a digital camera, and oftentimes adjusting the camera's setting to ISO800, that a relatively fast shutter speed of between 1/50 to 1/100 seconds is NOT going to expose to you enough ambient light. after reviewing the disaster that is my developed Solaris 800, i realized how i was shooting mostly in between 1/50 to 1/100 seconds and ignoring the Contax T2's exposure lock upon locking my focus on a subject - which most of the time happens to be a very bright source such as a street lamp. as a result, my pictures were only exposed for the bright subject, and immediately ignoring the surrounding ambient light. pictures come out with only the bright source properly exposed while its surrounding cloaked in absolute blackness.
three years of shooting with a digital camera - understanding the nuances and techniques for achieving exposed ambient lighting all thrown out the window the minute the camera becomes un-automated and more knowledge-based rather than white-washing your mistakes with a simple delete button?
i honestly think the fact that i can mull over my mistakes post-development, accept it, and re-learn what i have taken for granted all these years is a wonderful experience. it's almost as if i'm learning how to use a camera again. there is no simple reviewing of a shot made seconds later only to immediately delete it when it turns out unsatisfactory, totally ignoring and forgetting your mistakes. with film photography, i have evidence for my mistakes and it stares at me, telling me i must not make the same mistake again the next time.
knowing how i could do better, i will attempt to try out yet another ISO800 film in the near future. but for now, i want to give the T2 a break, and pick up my 400D which is clearly starting to show signs of wear and tear.
