Between Takes with 1413
The two creatives spearheading 1413 Visuals are talking about all things studio life -- work, music, love etc.
Between Takes with 1413
Ep 4: Savoring the Slow Clicks of Film Cameras
As the shutter clicks and captures a moment forever, we can't help but marvel at the raw, unedited stories film photography tells. This week, we take you on an auditory odyssey into the world of analog imagery, sharing our latest escapades like splashing around with family at Great Wolf Lodge and savoring the productivity of a kid-free, work-centric weekend. Transitioning from these personal tales to the main act, we delve into the enchanting realm of film photography—a space where the number of shots is limited, trust in the vintage camera is paramount, and each frame is intentional and unrepeatable. We muse over the striking contrasts between the immediacy of digital and the thoughtful patience of film, inviting you to savor the unpredictability and authenticity that come with the latter.
But there's more to this episode than just the click of a camera; it's also about the soundtrack of our lives. As we wrap up our chat on the tactile artistry of film photography—discussing everything from selecting the perfect camera and lens to the financial and environmental considerations—we can't resist sharing a part of ourselves through music. Our personal song recommendations echo our current states of mind, with tracks that inspire, energize, and add a rhythmic backdrop to our creative endeavors. Join us as we celebrate the simple joys, the artful captures, and the melodies that make each moment memorable.
Song of the Week Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lDyWnUnAmvuUkf8wj7ilK?si=df11343db17c4df0
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Watch the Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNEbTpI9bZA7POvKaNto2RQ
Class act that galvanic two thumbs up, that's four. All right, sam, what you been up to this past week, I.
Speaker 1:Went home. For the we are not home, but I went visited back to the Midwest this past weekend and so that took up the whole weekend.
Speaker 2:You know what I did. I want a great wolf lodge. Did you see the picture I posted of the three white minivans? Yeah, yeah that's like the dads. This is where we park at.
Speaker 1:That's probably actually a bunch of moms, except you.
Speaker 2:I like to think it was a car meetup for moms. No, we're called another thing is mom's and you.
Speaker 1:So what did you guys do at great wolf lodge?
Speaker 2:Do you know what great wolf lodge is? I say indoor water park with, like you know, slides and there's like a treehouse thing with more slides and there's a wave pool. Yeah, we brought my mom so that there was a she went in the wave pool.
Speaker 2:Well she went. There was a one-to-one ratio with each kid, since I've got three kids, which was nice because otherwise two two-year-olds and a four-year-old about three five-year-old would have been a lot to do with, just me and Tracy. But she was much needed and we would have pulled our hair out without her. She's actually watching this, so I'm gonna tell my mom.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Thanks Russia's mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we had the kid free weekend and then we um, we did great wolf lodge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was the kid free weekend.
Speaker 2:So nice. Another shout out to L'Orealie she's the one that watched them, made it possible. We went to on Friday night. We went to a Ford and ship delicious food. Then we went to Sidebar on Saturday.
Speaker 1:Cool, that's all you did a whole weekend.
Speaker 2:I mean, I came here and worked.
Speaker 1:You had a weekend without the kids and you, tracy, had a work.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, so I couldn't just be at home aggravating her the whole time?
Speaker 1:You should have went and saw dune too. I Want to see that.
Speaker 2:Dune to looks awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway, I think this week we wanted to talk about film which I put on this sticky note that you got an unravel now. I wrote a couple film topics You're useless.
Speaker 2:Did you do that without noticing I?
Speaker 1:mean? What do you mean? I was a present for the whole thing.
Speaker 2:I was here, josh.
Speaker 1:We like film. I like shooting on film. Mm-hmm, I'm just really getting started shooting on film, but you have been a little obsessed with it for quite some time obsessed is absolutely the right word. Thank you. I know you have a cabinet full of film cameras, lenses to match a bag full of film you never use and Let me explain.
Speaker 2:The bag full of film. The bag full of film is all film that I have received, whether it be buying cameras off of Facebook marketplace or stuff, stuff like that. That's inspired.
Speaker 1:No that's not so many. I mean, I was it.
Speaker 2:I do with film. You get 36 tries and you have no clue what you got a single one of them turned out exactly and it's kind of like a game. I want to make these 36 count.
Speaker 1:There's something that interests me about it being like kind of the beginning of Photography. Film is really like the start, but I also think that it teaches there's a lot of things that I'm learning from shooting film that I don't have to learn when I'm shooting Digitally, specifically like shooting with intention, just kind of so what you already kind of touched on it, or you only have those few shots for per film and you don't get to Look at it and check and make sure it's actually what you wanted. So trying to put some really real thought into each shot and maybe the composition and everything of it each time, which, like I feel like we kind of have the leniency of not having to do that with our like digital cameras, where a film is just like you have no idea.
Speaker 2:And there's like not a bond, but a trust that you get with your camera when you know that it's gonna perform exactly like it's supposed to, but you got to do the right input to make it happen, and that's something that I really enjoy. That that's the aspect that I enjoy about shooting on film is Knowing your equipment in my opinion, shooting with the film cameras.
Speaker 1:It puts you in a position where you have to learn the capabilities of your camera and even how adjusting the different settings actually affect what your picture is gonna look like. Even to get a picture that's editable on a film camera, you have to be able to Shoot with intention and kind of know what the different things you do to it and how you set up are gonna affect that photo. Otherwise, you could end up with nothing that's even salvageable, whereas I do feel like digitally it is significantly not impossible but significantly harder to get a photo that's Unsalvageable. But you can't make something out of using editing software. Yeah, I'm like and you can edit your film photos, I don't.
Speaker 2:But let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. So why don't you want to edit your film photos?
Speaker 1:Something I like about film is the beauty of just being what it is. I'm not like a snob or a purist. I don't care if anybody else edits their photos. I just personally decided I don't want to edit mine. I want to take my photos like on the thing, like take my film photos on different cameras and do whatever and then get them back and then that photo is how it is and I think it's just another thing A that forces me to learn different basic techniques and basic things I really do, like the vintage I don't know aspect of it, and even just like simplicity of setting up the shot and taking the shot and then that's the photo you get. So I personally do not like to edit and will not edit my film photos, but I don't give flying shit if someone else edits their film photos, and even some people are like they do minor edits. I don't edit, I don't even straighten it.
Speaker 2:If it's, I was going to ask because I am one of those people. I'm not going to mess with the color tones and stuff, but I will straighten it and I will adjust Sometimes. If the lab didn't do a great job of like the contrast, I'll adjust the contrast, and if there's just, you know, if it seems a little under exposed, I'll fix it, Not me.
Speaker 1:Which I think you probably will get. You probably have way more photos that you're ready to share because you do that, whereas me I'll just like never. I just won't really show off that photo that if I straighten the horizon.
Speaker 2:It might be better you bury that one deep down, but I want.
Speaker 1:I want to be a really good film photographer and I think by not giving myself because I'm someone who take that and run and be like, oh, it's fine, I'll just fix it, edit it, whatever yeah, but not even giving that to myself it forces me to try to figure out how to use each camera. Every time I'm using a new camera, figuring out how to actually use it and how to use it. Well, think about what lens I'm using, Think about what film, kind of film I have in that camera, what the surroundings are, what surroundings are, what I'm actually trying to take a photo of all of that. Like I really want to learn the like ins and outs of film photography and get good at it. Like I think film photography is so fun and interesting and I think it's also become kind of a separate world in the industry.
Speaker 2:I think shooting a film at number one add stakes to pushing that shutter button, because financially it makes no sense to shoot a film, especially if you if like you're pinching pennies. But there's something about having to think about what you're doing. And also one of the things that do like shooting about film is on film is that when I go on vacation and stuff I will bring like that little Olympus camera, it forces me to be intentional and actually live in the moment.
Speaker 1:It's the fun time. Yeah, I feel like. I also feel like it's separate because monetarily it's not worth it unless you really enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You can get a film camera cheap, that's not the problem. Buying film and developing film, it costs a lot of money, like I mean, you think about on average $15 a roll, $15 per developing. So just to fill a role and then develop it, you're at $30 per roll.
Speaker 2:Makes no sense to shoot a film Like not, nope, not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't make a single sense, but it's so much fun. There's so many. It's just one of those collector type hobbies where you're just like.
Speaker 2:There's so many kinds of films and there's so many kinds of cameras. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And one thing I can advise is maybe don't get a camera, a film camera, that's super easy to use, because you'll fill up those. You'll go through those roles so fast.
Speaker 2:Have you found that with your new camera?
Speaker 1:Yes, well, which one?
Speaker 2:The one that auto the? Yeah, so.
Speaker 1:I got a Canon Rebel G2. I got it from a pawn shop super cheap and it's in great condition. It works great. I really enjoy it. But it's literally like a looks like a digital camera but it takes film and everything is very electronic. So it has all of the settings that a very base digital camera would have.
Speaker 1:When we were at the pawn shop and we were looking at cameras and I found my new camera that I actually low-key talked someone else out of buying on accident I didn't actually know what the kid had in his hand, but he was looking at the cameras just like me. But I didn't realize until after you know the situation that I ended up picking up the camera he was looking into. But he I think he was just trying to, you know, get a used camera for a low-priced. He picked up that one, he googled what it was smart on him and he I just heard him telling the girl that was with him that it was a good camera but he was gonna have to, like, buy film for it and all that stuff. I don't think he realized until he googled the model type that it was a film camera and then he's telling her like, oh, I'll have to buy the film, and you know. And then I mentioned to him when, you know, as an eavesdropper I was being, I was like actually no, no, I just let him know.
Speaker 1:I was like it's even more expensive because we don't have a local place here in Greenville, North Carolina, that develops color film. So you, if you're here, you have to mail it off. So we're kind of limited to places that you have to pay for shipping and like we don't have any like mon-pop shop or even just like a regular camera shop that would develop it, that we can take it. So the turnaround time and the cost is even more around here because we have to mail off the rolls. And he didn't even take that into account and really I just don't think people, some people really first getting into it with zero experience in photography and stuff, they don't even realize what they're taking on by if they start with film and like the cost and the effort that there comes with taking film photos. So I said that to him, I ended up putting it down and then I bought it.
Speaker 1:I kind of felt bad later because I realized it clicked with me that I talked him out of buying it just to buy it and I'm like, dang it, I wasn't, that's not what.
Speaker 2:I was trying to do Sure Sam Sure.
Speaker 1:But I mean, if you know, at the end of the day I think I'm going to get more use of the camera than he was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he definitely didn't know what he was getting into and you saved him.
Speaker 1:But I don't think that's uncommon. That's another thing with film there's so many different kinds and some of the really cool ones are discontinued, so you could get this really cool camera and then never be able to use it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you're talking about the film types, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I bought two cameras. Now that the things that go in them are discontinued, I knew that when I bought them. And they're still like discontinued doesn't mean impossible, it means it could be expensive or just like difficult because like the two the two of that I have actually, from what I've seen, it's actually not expensive, like the one is the the 126. It's not, it's not super expensive. I just have to. You know, there's only a couple places where you can get that kind of film and it's not made anymore so you have to get it. It's going to be expired and you have to get it from someone who just like sort of a place that just has some of it left and just kind of hope you figure it out. I guess some of them like the one 26, some of the cameras that take like one 26, they can be adapted to shoot on 35 millimeter, so it's not always a waste, but I just want to try it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's the Polaroid land cameras. You see a lot of those in antique shops and stuff and, uh, they do not make the film. I guess you would call it, but you still can get like new, old stock and it's like 60 dollars for I don't I don't even know how many. It's called like fp100, but that's something I've always wanted to shoot on and there's people that's been modifying this cameras to shoot medium format film and there's like a whole community that does it. There's a guy on YouTube that I like went down the rabbit hole of watching him modify a same camera that bought for 20 at an antique place and it's like on my list of things to do.
Speaker 1:That will probably never get done well, maybe at one of the places we go to on Friday when we're going to take our Tracy.
Speaker 2:Approved 14 13 field trip only approved if we stopped by Trader Joe's on the way back which I'm all for, because I also like Trader. Joe's, I figured you'd be okay with that.
Speaker 1:So yep, I'm forming a list of things that I want to what you got on the second I don't know. I said I'm forming oh well forming a list.
Speaker 2:You form your own list, I'll form mine all right, my husband, the mac and cheese to heat up in the microwave is really good.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna scour, tiktok and I. So I'm excited about Trader Joe's because most this one is where all you, where we're going, but we also we've pretty much scoured all oh this. That reminds me what Anthony was telling me about a antique shop he got his film camera from where here in town that I'm it's not the one that you went to which one it's near there. He didn't couldn't remember what it was called. He was just kind of describing on like kind of where.
Speaker 2:I gotta know, because I know I consider myself very knowledgeable of this stuff I'll stop this podcast right now.
Speaker 1:I was just gonna find out. Yeah, he's gonna look up the name.
Speaker 2:I need another name, like now he's.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm actually really excited about that trip. I'm really glad that Tracy's let us go. Yeah, thanks Tracy, thanks Tracy.
Speaker 2:I don't want to get off on a whole different topic, but I feel like you do have to kind of reward yourself when you work in the sphere of editing and and sitting at a desk all day or like hyper focusing on one thing. But this is totally that it is 100% a 1413 field trip. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited for it. Um, I think we're gonna have fun. I think I've told you I'm excited for it like 100 times okay, but it's okay, I mean, I'd rather you be excited about something than not, and I think, yeah, I really do think we're gonna have it just a nice day, not even just not at the studio, but like we really do kind of.
Speaker 2:We really do have a lot of fun when we go and Sam's always down when I'm like, hey, you want to go look at yes yes, I am, I love doing that but don't.
Speaker 1:You have to do this yeah, yeah, but um, yep, leave it to me to put something off. So.
Speaker 2:Anyway, my song of the week. I wrote it down so I don't butcher the name in. M83, and the song is called Solitude.
Speaker 1:It's like song for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. I think again there's a theme. I think I've made you listen to this, but the song mainly instrumental the alley, the alley on Cooper.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'm gonna Google Maps it. Yeah, do that real quick.
Speaker 2:Google Maps it? I Don't see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you Google Maps it? That's what I say. I know that's not right. That's how I say. I like it, this All right.
Speaker 2:I like it because it's super moody. It's another video. I mean, it's another song that it just lends itself to video. I've seen it in multiple Netflix shows or at least one, okay, but I feel like I've seen it multiple ones and it kind of has this Phil Collins in the air tonight sound. Anyway, listen to it. Solitude by M83. What's your song of the week, sam?
Speaker 1:my song is, if it's only for tonight, by a rich Henderson. It's another. It's another guy I've said I've been on record saying he's got the voice for vinyl. This song specifically, it's my favorite by him. He it's. He's got a real like Appalachian Alternatives sound On. I really enjoy it. His songs are another one where the lyrics are pretty intense and sad. It's sad if you listen to it, it's a bummer, but also empowering in a way. I yeah, I just it's one of my all-time favorites. I think that's what all the songs coming in the next few weeks are gonna be here, some of my all-time favorites probably forever.
Speaker 1:So all I can say is go listen to it. It'll be on the playlist between takes, playlist that's updated each week with our songs the week, so Go check it out and let us know what you think of the songs.