Contrasting Films

George Cutright

— 3 min read
Contrasting Films

Trying different film stocks can be fun. I've shot so much portra that it feels like my go-to. Maybe the standard. After shooting the very expired Ektar from my last post, I wanted to try some modern, unexpired Ektar film to see if I liked it as much. So I got a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 to switch it up. Ektar is a wonderful film in the daylight. But I found it to be a bit flat when the sky was overcast. A good experiment and I now have some scenarios where I know I can use it.

A deep blue sky punctuated by branches of pink cherry blossoms.
Having a giant cherry tree in my front yard is amazing every spring. I haven't tired of taking photos of it.
A regular footed skateboarder nosesliding to the right and the background is a pink building.
Templeton nosesliding at a fun ledge downtown. I love when a photo turns out close to how I visualized it. Also, with 100 speed film I was able to open up a bit more and get some nice depth of field.
A goofy footed skateboarder does a smith grind on a ledge with a background of green trees and blue sky.
Great poppy colors as Dorian does a smith grind at the Sandy skatepark.
A 70s station wagon with some cosmetic flaws in front of a monkey puzzle tree and house.
Great car spotted on a bike ride. This overcast lighting made the image a little flat for me.
Purple flowers of a chive plant against a dark background with a couple of arched sun flares.
Color film is always great for sunny days and spring blooms in the garden.

Then on to my second attempt with the Cinestill XX film. This time I shot it at 400 on my Olympus XA. The timing lined up great with a photoshoot at a cattle ranch. I like how these came out. Nice and punchy and an overall quality black and white film.

A black and white image of a huge texas longhorn bull.
One of the prize Texas Longhorns at the ranch.
black and white image of a black and white cat sitting on a fence.
Of course there were barn cats.
a black and white image of a black and white cow alone in a field with a fence and trees in the background.
Big horns out in the field.
A herd of longhorns in a field.
Hanging with the herd.
A mostly white cow with very wide horns looking at the camera with it's head slightly cocked.
It's wild how wide the horns get on some of these cows.
A guy with in a black hoodie and SF hat standing against 2 chainlink fences.
My bestie, Conor, was in town for a few days. So I had to get a portrait.
1 woman and 2 men looking to the left. In the background are their bikes leaned against a picnic table with a background of dense trees.
Friends on a bike ride break.

On top of all the film fun. I picked up a new digital camera. I couldn't ignore the Fuji hype anymore and got an X100f. I've been enjoying it so far. It fits right in with my other rangefinders. It feels like holding a "real" camera to me. I had a compact digital point and shoot and I just didn't like that camera. Too many features packed into a little camera and it felt tiny in my big hands. The x100 is more to my liking. I'm getting some color settings dialed in, and enjoying it a lot.

A brown and white dog in front of bright green grass.
Lots of dog photos to test it out.
An almost life-size plastic horse tied to a fence with a mosaic sign that says horse.
Horse.
A huge cruise ship in a dry dock. The graphic says "pride of america" and there's an eagle graphic.
Interesting video shoot location.
Cruise ship in the dry dock.
Based John board sliding.
Brent doing a slappy front crook.

I hope you enjoyed some photos. More coming soon!

Until next time, it might have been.

George

Read more