my cousin angie asked me if i could take some photos of her and marvin on their wedding day. “we don’t want much. just a few of us in the ceremony and around the courtyard”, she said. so of course, i said “yes”. this was an opportunity to service them, and for me to get outside of my comfort zone and learn something new through the process.

for wedding photoshoots, its pretty common to have wedding dates booked months in advance (sometimes over a year!). considering there wasn’t much to be expected (although there always is, especially for your wedding day) other than some “basic” photos , five weeks notice was fine i suppose. :)

we had 30 mins before the ceremony to take some pictures, and about 30 mins after the ceremony to take a few more plus the obligatory extended family pictures. no planning, no scouting. just the three of us walking around to find good well lit areas to make some photos.

in hindset, i wish i’d have been a bit more prepared with some high speed film to capture the ceremony since it had very low light. its an absolute must if you’re shooting film. film definitely has its advantages with the unmatched tonal range and color, but it really isn’t as versatile as digital, particularly in this case where there was no advance prep time with limited time.

all in all, it was fun and a good experience. i’m happy with some of the photos we made. below are a few favorites.

cameras:

mamiy rz67
mamiya 7

film:

kodak portra 400, 120mm
kodak tri-x (400tx), 35mm

november 2019: autumn / eastern sierras

here are a series of photos made from a trip to california’s eastern sierras in november 2019.

my friends zak, phil and i took a trip up to the sierras this past november in hopes to catch the autumn colors in full bloom. due to its unpredictable weather, every day counts when chasing colors.

we explored parts of bishop and mammoth over the course of 3 days. in mammoth, we noticed immediately that we were maybe about a week too late as the leaves had started to turn brown and wither. there were a few areas around convict lake that were just past peak, which was good enough to capture some color. in bishop, we couldn’t have come at a better time! it was at full peak and the colors were outstanding. this was interesting because last year bishop peaked before mammoth! with the help of @monocountytourism, we were able to time our trip to near perfect.

note: if you don’t already, i would recommend you follow them on instagram as they give you up to date “autumn color” reports, among other useful information based on season. their page can save you a trip or two!

gear: i brought with me about 15+ rolls of 120 film and a handful of 35mm film (color & b&w), and shot all of them before the end of my trip. bummer. in hindsight, i should have brought more 35mm film and paced myself with the 120 film. all in all, i’m happy with the outcome of some of these photos.

excited to head out there again in a few weeks! its snowing a ton. :)

enjoy the photos!

-j

medium format/120 film