Edition 55

MY FIRST ROLL OF 35mm FILM
by Shanal Bhele, 3 rd Year, ME
Shot my first roll of 35mm film a year ago with my Nikon FM 2. Only half of the roll came out
well-exposed. But I like it. It’s imperfect, authentic, tangible and it’s the beginning of something
new. I like the fact that the roll isn’t tailored to perfection; the way I would edit my digital
photos. In my one year of shooting on an analogue film camera, I’ve shot 8 rolls of Fujifilm
fujicolor C200. I like to think that I’ve learned something with each roll of film I’ve used up. One
thing I love about shooting film is its trial and error aspect, not knowing exactly how a shot will
come out. This does lead to some unexpected results, some intriguing, others not so much.
When shooting digitally, you rarely have to worry about running out of memory. As a result,
it’s easy to get into the habit of taking (and saving) lots of bad pictures. Having just one shot
for each composition will keep you thinking longer and harder about why a shot didn’t work
or what you can do to improve your photograph. There’s nothing like the thrill of taking the
film out of the processing lab and seeing the print for the first time. It’s also a good idea to
get hard copies of your photos, something that digital photographers rarely do.