this is mac.  he is quite possibly the smartest dog to have ever lived.

his person is a dear friend of mine and dog trainer extraordinaire!  they came up to seattle for a visit back in oh-nine, let me take them for a walk in our cute downtown and snap a few back alley shots.  it was 12 frames of film with my trusty hasselblad 500cm (purchased on ebay for a true steal of a deal) and i just now got around to getting the negs scanned.

i am trying to figure out why film is so amazing.  is it the scarcity factor?  is it the deep tones or slight hues?  is it the memory lane you trip down thanks to the overall tone of the image?  is it the creativity you have to muster up with only those 12 frames?  is it the challenge of guessing/knowing the settings you must use without the visual justification on the back of your camera?

or is it the sound of the old shutter as it fch-kwmphs it’s way open and closed as you work with your scene?  of the wisps of light that may be a light leak yet untested?

whatever it is, it is beautiful.  it seems magical and it makes me want more.  it makes me yearn to slow down.  to make my calculations with the somewhat unreliable light meter i found at a garage sale.  it makes me feel like a kid again as i wait with unbridled anticipation while the film is developed.  it makes me squint as i hold the negatives up to the light and then beg for prints and scans of each image.  it feels like history and antiques and stuff my grandma used to talk about.

it makes me fall in love with photography all over again.