Don't try your best

Why you shouldn’t be flexing your creative muscle or trying to get the best photos you can.

If you're going to take photos, try not to be concerned about only taking the photos which will achieve the most likes or gain the biggest following, try not to take photos which you think might make money, try not to be concerned about using every ounce of talent in every shot, and try not to end up with a bunch of photos that only go as far as showing off your skill.

Instead, take the photos which you can't wait to show people, the photos which will make you smile when you look at them 30 years from now, the photos you want to print and stick to your fridge door, the photos that go into an album, the real memories.

I exclusively use film for many reasons, one of those reasons (and one real strength of film) is because it's easy to create an album, a set of photos (whether printed or not) that stick to a particular theme, that document a life event or tells a story. Choosing a film stock and loading it into the camera can give your photography purpose and encourage you take photos with an "album" mindset, meaning you take more photos that matter.

When my first son was born, I loaded Illford XP2 into the F100, I wanted to rattle through the entire roll within 24 hours of his birth, taking photos of the friends and family who came to visit and his first night at home. I also wanted to be able to process and scan the film as soon as possible and being a C-41 film stock, it means I can get any of the 1 hour labs to do it at really short notice. XP2 is not a true B&W film stock, unlike all other Illford products, though it’s still Illford quality. Where I live, there’s a minimum 2 week turnaround to process a real B&W film and that’s not including time taken to ship the film to the lab and back again. C-41 is the process applied to pretty much all colour (negative) film stocks and is the process behind the 1 hour photo service. The emulsion on a regular colour film consists of 3 colour layers (Cyan, Yellow & Magenta) and a Key layer (black/darkening). XP2 is simply a CYMK colour film but without the CYM colour components, leaving just the Key layer. This gives a B&W negative.

A great B&W stock at a great price that’s cheap and quick to develop. Without any shame, this link and the one above are affiliate links, meaning that you'll be supporting this blog and future content by using it to purchase your film.

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