The F-word

One of the reasons I want to be a wedding photographer is because I LOVE wedding photography. Actually, love might be the wrong word. Ben would tell you that I'm obsessed. I tell him that it's really because I'm passionate about it. And I say it passionately.

I follow the blogs of other wedding photographers because they inspire me. One of my newest favorites is Jose Villa. His images are yummy, like vanilla cupcakes. Warm, sweet, and light. And beautiful and real. And the best part is - wait for it - HE STILL SHOOTS WITH FILM.

Yes, that is the f-word for photographers. FILM. In a digital, fast paced world, analog methods are falling out of style. That is, if you don't use them to define your style like Jose Villa.

The first photography class I took was in black and white film. In Italy, when I studied abroad. And it was as fabulous as it sounds. We had a dark room that I spent hours upon hours in, and loved every second of it. It was the most work I had ever put in for a class but the work that I minded the least because it never felt like work. It felt like fun. When I decided I wanted to get back to photography last summer, I bought a 35mm Canon SLR on eBay for $50, to reacquaint myself with the art, before I splurged on a big digital camera.

And oh how I still love my Rebel 2000. It takes dreamy pictures.

Photojojo is a great inspiration for creative ways to get shots. They posted an article a while back about shooting macro photos by inverting your lens, so I decided to try it with a miniature toy giraffe that I had from another photo project (we'll get to that later). I actually liked the result.

So the night before I went to the WPPI roadshow in DC, I was trying to pick out my outfit for the conference because Jasmine Star was going to be there, and she is my Idol. And just in case I got to talk to her (which I did, and sounded totally star-struck) I wanted to look good. Aslan was giving me advice on which shoes to wear. He totally arranged them for me too.

My sister is hot stuff. Check out her abs. And the gorgeous colors of the sea and sky.

 We were going for the wind-in-the-hair look.

Love, love, love the colors in this one. I have never gotten colors like this (without post-processing) from my digital camera. Gorgeous.

I don't think I will ever be able to choose digital over film, or film over digital. Truth is, I like them both. And the good news is, until they stop making film altogether, I won't have to choose between them. I think I'll choose both.