There are those moments that seem to come full circle. Like relationships that grow over time, it feels like just yesterday it was my family on the other side of the lens. Mary has taught me to see past the ordinary, how to project creative confidence and most importantly reminds me to put my own family first. Thank you, Mary, for inviting me to capture your tribe on film!⁠

Film loves color

There is this misconception that film photography is always bright and airy, pastel and neutral. I am here to break that myth. I crave color, in fact that is what draws me to film. Mary and her family were the perfect subjects for a colorfully fun family session on film. The girls wore the sweetest little Zara outfits, which are always my favorite when shopping for outfits for colorful family photos on film. Even that adorable little colorful triangle garland is from Zara.

Shooting film in the snow

These snowy film sessions have really become some favorites of mine. The Find Lab wrote an awesome blog post on shooting film in snow and suggests overexposing 1-2 stops to get bright white snow. For the images with 4 or more people, my f-stop was set to f 4.0 and my light meter read 1/250sec so I rated my Portra 400 film at 200 which overexposed +1 stop. For the images with less than 3 people, I set my f-stop to f 2.8 my light meter read 1/500 sec and my Portra 400 film was still rated at 200 so those images were overexposed +2 stops and they were my favorite. You can see how vibrant and colorful they are.

Portra 400 is a great film stock to use in snow, it has incredible latitude, meaning it can handle being overexposed very well and a great film to learn on and to use in unique lighting situations. You will have to check out my latest blog post, A snowy family session in Leavenworth and learn how to meter for the snow.

Learn to shoot film

If you are a photographer and want to learn more about shooting film I offer online photography mentorships and in-person photography mentorships. I am also hosting a one-day film photography workshop in Lake Chelan, Washington in May 2020. If film photography feels like a mystery to you but it is something you have been wanting to learn let’s make it happen! In the meantime download my favorite resources for film photography.