Shoot Film Co.

Today I'm super happy to feature something a little different: a stop motion animation short created by photographer Max Lamdin. I'm going to let him take the reigns and tell you what this project is all about below. Have at it, Max!

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My name is Max Lamdin, I’m a 20-year-old photography student living in Kent in the UK, I’ve been heavily interested in photography for the last 5 or 6 years but have always enjoyed it, I grew up shooting film and returned to it around 4 years ago and it’s been my main focus for all of that time. I’m pretty much constantly shooting, with no particular preference for subject matter; street photography, portraiture, documentary the works, on a whole range of formats too, 35mm, medium format and polaroid.

The thing that ultimately interests me the most about film photography is the unlimited possibilities which can be made from cameras to film stocks, plus I have always been interested in the cameras and how they work. That was the main motivation behind the animation from the beginning, although it was set out as a Uni project I knew I wanted to make something that wasn’t just a straight video and I knew I wanted to make it about cameras.

In total I took around 3000 images in a simple set up with a lighting tent, sadly I couldn’t use film for this project because I would have if given the chance. The ‘story’ line behind the video was a bit of make it up as you go kind of thing, but I wanted to make sure I was using film cameras as they’re what I’m most passionate about and I wanted to use modular cameras so that I could build them up in the video. When I made the video, the cameras included were my favourites at the time, the Nikon F4, is an absolute beast of a camera and I treated it as such, I used it heavily over 2 years and it was one of my absolute favourite cameras, however I recently sold it as I got hold of an F5 that was at a price I couldn’t say no too, whereas the F4 was a beast the F5 is an absolute monster!

Although I miss the F4 I’m incredibly happy with the F5. Also included in the video is a Bronica SQ-Ai, perfect for this video due to its modular build, sadly this camera has had some issues and has been sent away for repair twice, which is why at the very end of the video eagle eyed viewers will notice something slightly different about that particular camera. I’m currently using an SQ-A in its place at the moment which is alright in some regards, but I definitely miss my SQ-Ai. The final camera in the video is a Polaroid ProCam, a bit of a weirdo in some regards, I see it as something Robocop would use which I hope explains why I’ve edited the way I have. But a very fun camera to use, taking Spectra film and allowing for a larger amount of control than most polaroid cameras. Now I’m using either an SX-70 of the Polaroid Macro 5 (something definitely worth looking up).

That’s the story behind the cameras I’ve chosen, all of the images included in the video preceding the cameras were shot using those particular cameras/on similar formats, to give a glimpse into my photography while also being surrounded by what I love most about photography.

In total, the video took an estimated 30 hours to make, about 15 hours of shooting, and roughly 10 hours of sound design, all of the camera sounds were genuine sounds which I recorded myself, and most the sound effects were found on free sound websites (poor student problems). I’m not entirely sure how long I spend editing the video in total, but it must have been roughly 5 hours at least. I wanted to make something which was meaningful to me and actually showed something which I am interested in which I feel was accomplished.

If you would like to see any more of my photography it can be found at maxlamdinphotography.co.uk or you can follow me on Instagram @the_maxines if you’d rather see some of my more sporadic postings about cameras and general photography nonsense.

The dedicated and prolific gang over at the Sunny 16 Podcast allowed me to be a guest on their show yet again, this time to help judge the Cheap Shots Challenge. It's nice chunky one so make sure your morning commute is long and your coffee cup is full.

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All Images © Caroline Aro. All rights reserved.

Caroline's Website / Instagram

My name is Caroline and I live just outside of Washington DC. I only recently picked up a camera but instantly fell in love. I started out with my dad's old Minolta XG-M back at the end of summer 2017.

It can be pretty difficult to find a good film developing service that is convenient and affordable, so I decided that I would teach myself. Since November, I have been developing film at home for myself and for my friends.

I've been been collecting point & shoots and SLRs from thrift stores all across the country during some travels. I have been slowly teaching myself how to fix them up. There is a lot to learn but I eventually want to know a little bit about every aspect of film photography; from the way the camera is built, to the processing of film.

There's something about film that I just love. The entire process, the look and the feel. The anticipation to see your work after finishing a roll of film. I love that I can be involved in every step of the way.

Right now I've stuck with my dad's Minolta XG-M and the lenses he gave me with it; a Vivitar 28-50mm and a 50mm prime lens.

It's been a great reliable camera for me and I love that it came from my dad. He used it in a lot of his travels back in the 80s and I look forward to using it in all of my travels (and everyday life) as well.

I love finding and testing all of the cameras I've come across. Maybe because it's what I started with, but I've noticed I'm a bit partial towards Minoltas!

Two of the photos that I'm in obviously weren't taken by me; my boyfriend used my camera. However, I developed all of these photos myself. They were all taken with my Minolta XG-M

This January, I went on a trip to Iceland with my parents and my boyfriend. We stayed in a hotel in Reykjavik with this great spiral staircase. Definitely had to snap these first to shots.

This was a gas station literally in the middle of nowhere in Iceland. It had just been so windy and snowy all day. I don't know what it is but I love the way gas stations look at night. Maybe it's the lighting contrasts or something. We learned a fun fact though; this gas station was on the left side of the road, which didn't entirely make sense since we drove on the right. It turns out that up until the 60s or 70s, people in Iceland drove on the left side of the road until they all of a sudden changed it! Apparently it was just "Okay on such and such day, this is when the law goes into effect and we're switching how we drive. Have fun!" We heard it took a bit of getting used to.

This is a low-key popular spot near where I live to get some cool pictures. This stretch of road is lined by these big old trees and is surrounded by fields. It was a crazy windy day and I caught this shot of my boyfriend and the pup running back to the car. It didn't turn out very crisp or clear - someone actually commented it looks like a painting in a way. I really like that it's not "perfect", you know? It's a cool look to me.

I surprised my boyfriend with a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year. I'm not into partying or going too crazy, but I was just so excited for the atmosphere and the people-watching. I awkwardly made my way on top of this wobbly trash can to get the next photo. In the meantime, my boyfriend caught this one of me! The energy was so high and everyone was having such a good time. It was so incredible to get it from a higher perspective and I'm glad I got this shot of the crowd from there.

The next photo is from our last day in New Orleans. We went to the sculpture garden in the morning. This piece is called Karma and it's by Do Ho Suh. It must have been at least 20 feet tall. It was a seemingly endless chain of figures with their hands over the eyes of the figure before him. Even though the colors got a bit weird when I developed this picture, I still really like how it turned out, and this is definitely my favorite sculpture from the gardens!

I pretty much always have G.A.S. and if you're even here, I'm almost positive that you do too.

Otherwise known as Gear Acquisition Syndrome--when you lust after all the photographic toys that make this hobby of ours fun.

That's what we want to celebrate in this new Facebook Group.

Yeah yeah, "it's not about the gear, it's about the photograph." That's all well and good too, but that is NOT what this new Facebook group is about--it's about the toys and the fun we have with the toys.

Come join the group and chat with us!

In my photographic process, scanning film has always been the most the most tedious process and always the bottleneck.

Recently, Hamish Gill of 35mmc.com announced the "pixl-latr," an affordable and easy to use solution to scan film, will soon be heading to Kickstarter.

From what I've seen, it looks like an interesting solution to a problem that many of us have.

Head over to http://pixl-latr.com to to get signed up for the mailing list and stay up to date with the product and the upcoming Kickstarter campaign!