Hi sweet Lindsay,
Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment! Taking photos isn’t tied to my identity in the same way that writing is (I take them only for fun!), but I’m always super glad when they make someone else happy too.
I took a lot of film photos in high school and I had a lot of fun doing it but I was always running into snags with my cameras. The snags were mostly a product of my lack of understanding, but also because I was routinely buying very cheap very old cams/lenses. That isn’t to say that a cheap camera can’t be good (my current camera was $30!) but I just didn’t really know what to look for when purchasing back then. It became too emotionally taxing to have to keep saying goodbye to cameras and throwing pictures to the wind because they were over exposed or whatever.
All that being said, the camera I use now is a point and shoot and the simplicity is a lot more realistic for my skillset. Specifically it’s a Nikon One Touch Zoom 90 AF QD that my partner got for me on eBay. At first I was using expired Kodak Gold but I’ve moved on to Portra 400 (the former left my pictures underexposed). I’ll probably keep experimenting with different films as the time goes on—maybe you’ll be able to tell by the newsletter pix!
I’m no expert but I’ve found taking pictures in pandemic times to be a very grounding activity! It helps me to recognize that time is actually passing / I’m living a real life. I’m also grateful to have getting my film developed to look forward to.
OK LMK if you have any more specific qs that I can answer directly on this front!
<3 RD
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