That old timer at the camera swap who told me to stop babying my film

Met this guy named Bob at a swap meet in Portland last month. He saw me carefully loading a roll of Portra 400 like it was made of glass and laughed. Told me to just rip the damn thing in there quick and stop treating film like it's precious. So I tried his method on a $3 roll of expired Fuji I found and the shots came out way sharper than my careful ones. Weird how being reckless actually helped. He also said my film fridge is a waste of space for anything shot within 6 months. Anyone else get advice from a random that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_bailey21mo ago

Get that expired film developed yet? I had a similar wake up call when some old street shooter told me bracketing was for people who can't admit they don't know their camera. Made me realize i was overthinking every shot instead of just trusting the damn thing.

reed.eva1mo ago

My friend Marcus bought three rolls of Portra 400 that expired in 2012 and got some of the best shots of his life.