Film Photography at Sundance Film Festival 2019

A friend of mine and I went to Park City during the Sundance Film Festival 2019. It was my first time there, and with so many people around, it reminded me of the times I spent in downtown New York City. We parked in front of Park City Mountain, and took a free bus down to Main Street, where the shots I took with my Leica M2, with TriX400 film, 50mm f/16, and shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/500 of a second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

I think I overexposed for most of the pictures (I gotta learn to have more faith in my film), but some of them did get the effect I wanted: today's times will someday feel like ancient history in the not-so-distant future.

My Grandpa's Last Roll of Film: the Idaho Falls Bucket Shot

As some of you may know from my profile bio, I've started experimenting with film photography using my step-grandfather's Leica M2, tucked away in a leather Leica carrying case, complete with lens cleaning paper, a lens holder, and an unopened roll of Kodachrome KM 135-20 color film (expiring in June, 1984). What I may not have mentioned was that when I re-discovered the camera in his cabinets around September or October 2018, it was still carrying unexposed film inside.

 

I took the camera to get some information on it from some of the local shops in town. At Allen's Camera, one of the technicians let me know that it's a quality camera in great working condition. She tried to take a look inside to extract the film inside, but the film had degraded to a certain degree that its perforations were torn and it was no longer stabilized on the film spools. To remove the film in this current state, she said, was to risk exposing it to light because it would be difficult to do so in a darkroom. At the time, I contemplated keeping the film and camera as simple counterpieces.

However, just to be thorough, I later took the camera to Acme Camera Company (another local shop.) One of the employees told me a ton of more information on it, and let me know that they have a guy who uses a Leica M film camera himself, who may be able to extract the film in a more specialized way than the technician at Allen's Camera.

The next day, I brought the camera back to Acme, where this other employee inspected and gave me a rundown of how it worked as a completely analog device. He then proceeded to take the camera into a dark bag (a bag that's basically a portable darkroom), and with some deliberation, managed to wind the film and extract it safely from the camera. He did say that it was torn a little bit in this process, but it would be worth checking out for development.

After handing me this mystery, expired film, he showed me the basics of loading and unloading fresh film, determining film exposure, focusing with a range finder, and changing the lens. He offered to clean the camera up and a free roll of TriX400 film to get me started on my film photography hobby. Below is the first picture I took as he walked me through operating the camera, and the second picture I took, when I made it back home.

 

Fast forward a couple months, from this point of taking my first pictures in black and white film. I ended up sending the long-expired roll of film in this camera to Film Rescue International, letting them know the film's circumstances. By mid-January, I got the following images back from this last roll that my step-grandfather took before tucking his camera away for several decades.

 

  
  
  
  
  
  

After getting these shots back, I began asking around for anyone who might recognize any of the locations in these pictures. These shots inspired me to try and trace the destinations that my step-grandfather must have gone to before he died.

For many of them, the images are just too faded and undetailed to really identify so far; one, however, is distinct enough to be identified as the falls in Idaho Falls, Idaho. So not long after figuring it out, a friend of mine and I road-tripped three hours north to Idaho Falls from Salt Lake City. Sure enough, shortly after making it to town, we found the exact spot that the last picture in the roll was taken.

 

The above overlay shot is what I had in my head, and it made all the countless attempts at getting it just right worth it. I can confidently say this was my first successful bucket shot of 2019. I can't wait to get more done as time moves forward!