Two months ago, I shared about receiving with my mother’s AE-1 film camera. I was so excited to get film in it and start shooting. I first had to discover how to open the camera to load the film. I loaded old expired film that my mom had on hand and began shooting. The roll had twenty four exposures and the knowledge of this number made me slow down. Each year since shooting one of my goals is to slow down. To be present. To allow the moment and place to stir creativity. My hope is that film will create a even slower pace.
After shooting my first twenty four shots I took my camera to my local camera store, Lee’s Camera. I reached into my purse and grabbed out the camera to sit it on the counter. I asked Bill, who I have been working with since day one of this journey to be present when I rewind the film. I was cautious. I wanted to make sure it was done properly. As he began to show me the steps Bill asked me if I already cranked the rewind button. I was confused as I thought I came to him to rewind the film. Bill graciously informed me that the film never loaded properly. Here I am concerned about unloading the film when my first mistake was loading it.
I felt disappointment hit my heart as I realized the moments I thought I captured were gone. One by one the different images went through my mind. One particular moment was one of Myla sitting outside on her big pink ball. She was eating carrots and bouncing on the ball outside by herself. The light was soft and her hair was down. It was a day that my heart was heavy and desired another baby for her to have a sibling to play with. When I feel this way I pick up my camera and shoot. She is growing way to fast and the best way for me to slow that down is to capture each moment.
I left the store with the camera reloaded properly, thanks to Bill’s assistance. And I decided that this was a good mistake to learn and that I will make mistakes again too. Below are several images from my second roll of film, or my first properly loaded roll. I am hoping to reload the camera with film recommended by Jonathan Canlas and keep documenting the everyday.
Woodberry Kitchen is a favorite place to eat in Baltimore.
For these images, you can tell that I scanned them into my computer.
The photograph on the left makes me laugh so hard! The one of the right not in complete focus.
Focusing on the AE-1 is all done manually.
It was lovely to be barefoot all week at the beach. I only wore shoes when we went to the grocery store.
Myla found Lyndon’s harmonica and loves to make music on it! She is wearing her favorite dress in these photos.