My first roll of film

Newsletter #9

Since my last newsletter, I turned 40. Forty?! I hear you cry. But alas time waits for no man, and despite my youthful looks and boundless energy (my back hurts even just writing this newsletter), I am in fact at the beginning of my fifth decade. We spent my birthday week out in Portugal, in the Algarve, staying in the town where my sister and her partner met 10 years ago this year. So we all rented a big Airbnb with a pool and got to work on our various celebrations, making our way around all the pastel de nata bakeries in the local area.

To further celebrate the occasion, my wonderful partner bought me my first SLR 35mm film camera. I’ve been wanting to try something new with my photography for a while, and have become increasingly obsessed with the film images I was seeing posted online. In particular those of football matches. Football on 35mm looks so good, who knew? So on the morning of my birthday I unwrapped a Pentax ME Super, which was even older than me, and loaded it with a roll of Kodak 400 Ultramax. The sky was a deep blue, the flowers in the garden a vibrant purple, and the pool stood out beautifully against the tiled edges. What a perfect place to practice using my new camera.

Yet, it didn’t quite go to plan. Over the course of the next few days, I took it with me as we toured around the towns and beaches of the Algarve. The lens was beautiful to use, and I really enjoyed the 50mm perspective, compared to the 35mm on my current Fuji digital camera. I was super excited about getting the scans back once we were home, but when the day came and I received the email with them on, at first glance they didn’t look great. The exposure was way off in some shots and the shutter speed wasn’t dialled in for the majority either, meaning a lot of blurred images. I sought some advice from some film friends and, perhaps being too kind, they suggested it may be an issue with the camera rather than pure user-error.

I think in reality it was a bit of both, and despite my initial disdain at the images that had come from that first roll of film, I’ve really grown to like them. They beautifully represent my naivety with using a 35mm SLR, the blazing brightness of the Algarve, and the blurred chaos of my family.

So, here they are, for you all to see. Let me know what you think, but please go easy on me, I’ve got a lot to learn. I am only 40 after all.