I was fairly confident this would be the first month I had no photos for my column.
Using film was a choice when I started this project. Since my move to Anchorage in 2020, film prices have increased by nearly $5 a piece—and when you’re spending more money to get them developed and scanned, each camera shutter sounds, and feels, financial.
But, this was the way I wanted to do the project, and so that was that.
This month, I forgot to change the settings on my light meter—a handy tool that, like the name suggests, measures light to help determine the correct camera exposure.
Long story short, every photo I took was a guessing game, and all I could do was hope that the film was forgiving enough and could be pushed in development.
I was ecstatic when Young texted, “Rolls look good. Just sent you the scans.”, followed by “Some of the frames were a little thin, so I don’t recommend shooting that way all the time lol.”
It was fun looking for patterns around our city. I started big and then found them in the smallest of places—like on Hoss the basset hound’s long and drooping ears and the American flag wrapping on a discarded potted plant.
These photos mean more to me now and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.
Thanks to Stewart’s Photo Shop for local film supplies and Young Kim with The Stoop PRC for film developing and scanning (and for saving this month’s rolls of film).
