How did we get here?

I had a gift card to B&H Photo that I’ve been hanging on to since Christmas, not really sure what to spend it on. But a conversation I had had with a friend about technical proficiency and the role of cheap plastic cameras in pushing creative limits got me thinking. When you think of plastic cameras that obvious choice that comes to mind is the legendary Holga 120. I’ve used one of these before in the past and enjoyed the experience. My problem now is that I don’t have a flatbed scanner anymore or a way to DSLR scan 120 film. So a 120 plastic camera was out.

But then I got to thinking about a 35mm plastic camera. At first I looked for the Holga 135 and other variants of that camera, and they seemed pretty cool but also maybe slightly less refined than what I was going for. I then stumbled on the world of what are basically reusable “disposable” cameras. Things like the Dubblefilm SHOW, various models from Kodak, etc etc.. It was in exploring this realm that I found the Kodak H35N. The little H35N checked a lot of boxes. It shot 35mm, it was plasticky enough that I wouldn’t take it too seriously, it had a fixed shutter speed and aperture, and it was half frame which meant I got twice as many frames per roll of film.

So I ordered one, along with 10 rolls of the cheapest 400 speed film I could get from B&H, Arista 400. Arista/Fomapan is a super budget film. It’s not particularly refined and the absence an anti-halation layer make it kinda glowy sometimes, but I’ve made some good stuff with it before.

What’s this all about?

My intention for this setup was to have a relatively small, cheap, easy to use camera that I could carry with me through daily life. I wanted something that I wouldn’t think too much about or take too seriously, that would encourage me to just shoot freely as things struck me as worth making pictures of in my daily intercourse with life. I haven’t finished a roll in the time I’ve had it so far, I think I’m about 50 frames in. But I’ve been enjoying the shooting experience quite a bit. I see something, I point the camera and shoot it. If it’s dark there is a built in flash I can use for some added light, and that’s all there is to it.

I’m hoping that the setup encourages me to be a bit more experimental in my shooting, the lack of seriousness and the prodigious amount of frames on tap allowing me to let loose and just shoot whatever I feel moved to shoot. The other thing that I’m looking forward to from this is the image review, especially since I don’t plan on immediately developing each roll as it’s finished. So it will be interesting to look for patterns, themes, subject matter that might coalesce out of this body of work. That’s the hope at least!

There are some technical limitations, which is kind of the point. But to make things work I’m planning on shooting a 400 speed film and stand developing in Rodinal. A 400 speed film should cover most of my lighting needs and for situations when the 400 speed film is working out of its element the stand dev should help save what we can from the negatives. Rodinal on half frame might end up being pretty, uh, crunchy, but we’ll see how things shake out. The glowy aspect of Arista might also be interesting when shot on half frame, so, once again we’ll just have to take the FAFO approach.

I’ll keep you all posted!