Your Film Doesn’t Need to be Refrigerated; Less Shopping. More Shooting.

Sometimes the dumbest ideas are perpetuated on the internet. Storing ones film in the fridge is one of them. Like many adamant film photographers, I too, used to buy months or even years worth of film when there was a sale.  And I'd store it in a little mini fridge.  I would open the door...

Celebrating Veterans Day on 35mm Film

Happy Veterans Day, America! To celebrate, I thought I'd share some film photographs of flags and documenting the political rallies I've attended over the years. Enjoy, and thanks to all the soldiers who've put their lives on the line, and given their lives, to maintain our freedom.   Thanks for reading! Follow, Favorite, Like, Add,...

A Rave Review of the Agfa Optima Parat

[first published on http://www.JohnnyMartyr.com in 2015] The Agfa Optima Parat is a beautifully quirky compact, fixed lens, scale focus, 35mm half-frame camera, made in Germany in 1963.  I bought mine in 2008 from Tina Waters, the curator of Gallery 61 in New York.  I paid $70 for it as a tested, working copy and today,...

Pentax SMC 50mm 1.2

Fact. I have owned a copy of every SMC-M 50mm lens that Pentax ever made.

Ceci n’est pas une Polaroid.

This is not a Polaroid. In art school, we were taught about the important distinction between words, images and objects by Magritte's Treachery of Images. Just as photojournalists commit themselves to accurate depictions of events, in discussing photography, accurate vocabulary is also critical.  Just as edited images can convey falsehoods, incorrect and inaccurate words can...

Fuji’s Latest Innovation; No Color!

On the heels of their discontinuation of all peel apart instant pack film, in September, Fujifilm announced that Instax Mini film would become available in b&w and I was quick to buy some as soon as it hit the market last week! For the younger kids shooting Instax, Fuji Instax Monochrome, removing color & increasing...

Fall Family Photos

Okay, so by the strictest definition, Fall began a few days after our photo shoot, but hey, I didn't have my & Harper's work processed & scanned until it was officially fall.  So, Fall Family Photos it is! Last weekend, my talented wife Stephanie was scheduled to shoot her bi-annual family photos with one of...

35mm, the Art of the Frame Burn

With film shooters moving to larger formats and digital shooters using face-palm-inducing software to emulate the look of film, a 35mm shooter begins to wonder "What cool characteristic can 35mm film provide that no other format can?" Enter the frame burn.     Unexposed 35mm film comes to us in a metal canister with a...

Photographing Fireworks with Fuji Instax

So you want to take some photos of the fireworks with your Fuji Instax instant film camera this Independence Day & you're wondering how to do that.  Well, you're on the right track by studying up BEFORE loading up your camera & heading out to a fireworks show. While seasoned photographers who don't shoot film anymore...

A Four Year Old Photographer

At what point do we become photographers?  If it's when we take the first shots we're proud of then my daughter Harper is well on her way! After years of playing with Mom and Dad's cameras, Last week I finally purchased our four year old her first camera. I have always allowed Harper to handle our cameras...