I was in the airport in Salt Lake City headed back home after a great week at Sundance Resort. I was going through the security line and had my camera gear hand checked and they asked if they could inspect and swab the bag etc. The officer was a great guy and we chatted a bit about the weather and our visit. Then he opened my bag and saw all of my film gear and film. His reaction was pretty cool, "Oh, nice camera. So, you still shoot film? You must really know what you're doing."

Mamiya 645 1000S, 80mm f2.8, 45 sec @ F16, Kodak Portra 160NC

That made me wonder, has the art and craft of photography been cheapened and viewed as "easy" by the masses because of the digital revolution? Has the safety net of that little screen on the back of a digital camera given people the sense that good photography is just as easy as pushing that button? I think it has. People ask me how I know that I am getting what I want when I shoot. The simple answer is I know because I know my gear, and I am shooting film. When I shoot film I tend to over shoot so I usually get some great surprises along with what I planned to get. I hardly get anything unexpected other than the usual eye blinks etc. 

The funny thing is I get just as many "bad" shots when I shoot digital as when I shoot film. To be honest, negative film is so forgiving that I can get more "keepers" out of a roll of film because of the films latitude. Now, any digital shooter worth his/her salt will tell you that the only way to shoot is with digital RAW file format. It's true there is a lot of latitude with that format but you have to spend time in front of the computer to actually pull it all out into the image. The film today is so forgiving that it is like an analog version of the RAW format. Without the computer work. Very nice.

I took some time off last week and headed up to the Sundance Resort just outside of Park City, Utah. What an amazingly quiet and restfull place that is. Getting away and unplugging probably was one of the best things I could have done for my creative mojo. Removing all distractions and focusing on what really is important just for a few days was so refreshing that it allowed my creative mind to flow back into my day to day.

Mamiya 645, 80mm 1/60th @ F2.8, Kodak Portra 160NC

I was getting ready for a hike and had my photo back pack open to pull out my Mamiya 645 to carry around first. I closed up the bag (I thought) and flung it on my back. That's when I heard it... CHUNK! That's right, I clipped the bag shut but didn't zip in shut too. Well, when I flung the pack on my back my Nikon F4 was thrown out of the pack. It landed right on the black top path I was standing on, crushing the prism/viewfinder. Ugh. I thought to myself "Great, I have all my lenses for this camera and now I can't use it". Plan B.

All I had left to shoot with was the Mamiya still in my hand, and the lens it had on it, 80mm. That was it. Not that it's a bad camera at all, but I just didn't know it that well and I didn't have a wide angle for it. Just the standard 80MM f2.8 lens. After I got over the disappointment of crushing my viewfinder and prism I was thrilled with the challenge of shooting with the Mamiya. What a blast. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. the challenge of trying to capture the image I wanted with one lens was so good for me. It changed the way I thought about the image and what was acceptable to me. I started to get better images than what I actually thought I wanted in the first place. That was really fun. If you want to stretch your creativity put one lens on your camera for a roll (because you shoot film, right) and see what you come up with. Be prepared to be set free, its fun.

The viewfinder is due to be fixed by next week...