Scans From the First Roll of Film are Here

I started a new adventure into the art of film photography last month with the purchase of a Kodak Ektar H35 point-and-shoot film camera. Click here to see what I posted about it in this blog. Being a half-frame camera, I had 72 frames in the Fomapan 200/36 that I wanted to use as my first roll of film. That was a lot of frames, and I shot it for the longest time ever. Last week I finally dropped it off to be developed, and today early in the morning I got the scans back.

Kodak Ektar H35 Harf-frame 35mm Film Camera

This little camera not only looks so cool, but also limits you in so many ways that it forces you to be creative about every photograph that you capture. It is an all-plastic toy like camera with a small plastic lens that does not allow you to control the shutter speed or the aperture. It comes with a 22mm lens that has a fixed f9.5 aperture, a fixed shutter speed of approximately 1/100 seconds, and it only requires a battery if you want to use the inbuilt flash to add more light to your scene. It also does not read the DXO code on your film rolls. So essentially, film loading, rewinding, and all other aspects of this camera are manual. Which means I had to pay so much attention to the light, the shadows, perspective, and lay my trust on composition to help me tell a compelling story.

So instead of rambling on about taking photographs with this very interesting camera that was equally freeing and challenging to work with, let me share a few of the images that I like from this first roll of film that I ever shot.

Nikon FM: Fully Mechanical 35mm Film Camera, Built Like a Tank!

I have been spending hours late into the night, learning about film photography, challenges, techniques, and the thrills of this art form. Back in Sri Lanka, film photography was dead, literally. We did not have anyone selling film rolls, and more importantly anybody developing film in a commercial setting. But here in Singapore, film is still alive, and thriving. So I knew that this was my chance to get my hands on this classic form of art.

Say “Hello!” to my new friend, Nikon FM, a fully mechanical 35mm film camera that was released in 1977 as a replacement for Nikkormat FT3, produced until 1982 to be replaced by Nikon FM2. Yes, this camera is fully mechanical, in the sense that you do not need a battery to trigger the shutter and capture images. However, there is an inbuilt through-the-lens light meter in this camera that requires a battery to function. As tiny as it is, the battery in this one would last for many months without replacement. Even if it runs out, I could always fall back to using a light meter app on my phone, or just go with Sunny-16 to get close to the right exposure.

Right now, almost all that I can share about this camera is the kind of things that you can easily find online on YouTube. So let me take a pause here, push a few rolls of film through this, and then come back with what I learned from that experience. I am excited especially because this camera is actually older than me, so I will be holding an important piece of history in my hands during these shoots.

On a separate note, I finished shooting my first roll of film through the Kodak Ektar H35, the 35mm half-frame film camera that I bought a few weeks back. I have dropped it to be developed, and now waiting patiently to see the outcome.

A New Beginning

I finally moved out from Sri Lanka with my wife to Singapore with the hopes and dreams of building a life for ourselves in a country where the ruled are not unbearably oppressed by the rulers. We had to leave a lot of people and things behind. We knew that this was not going to be easy when we first discussed the possibility of building our future in another part of the world. But we were suffocating with the weight of the financial crisis created by those who ruled Sri Lanka for the past 75 years out of greed and nepotism.

Today I am in a country where life is good for a young couple in their prime, to work, live, and enjoy life to its fullest. I am seeing a whole new level of positive energy in my creative work since I moved here as well. My portraiture work came to a complete standstill. I do not have access to an affordable studio here or any connections with models. But I adapted. I changed. Instead of feeling stressed or discouraged, I dived deep into other channels of photography. I have always been a street photographer at heart, so I had no problem turning to my roots with that. I am shooting way more often on the streets than I used to, especially since I have very little fear of being subjected to verbal or physical violence for taking an innocent photograph with no ulterior motives but documenting an interesting moment.

I am finally able to explore Film Photography, something that I could not have done back in Sri Lanka since there was no film stock nor any color lab that could develop film. I plan to explore a few ideas for long-term photography projects this year. At least one of those would be done with 35mm film.

This is a new beginning, and I welcome all the creative adventures on which I am about to embark in this beautiful country.