A Photo Walk w/ Cesar Part 3: Analog Therapy – Fujifilm GA645.
One of the things I like about photography is that you meet some really cool people.
I recently wrote about how I crossed paths with Chris Facey a few weekends ago.
Well, over that same weekend, I also met Cesar. I am paranoid… cautious by nature. Add in living in NYC for a few years and stir and you get my current state. Was recently reached out to do a photo exhibit by Preston…
…which is where I met Cesar. My first reaction to the exhibition offer was, “What’s the catch?”. So I pushed that back, asked a few questions and it was a great experience. This led to great things. The exhibition was great. I paid less attention to who did not show up for me and focused more on who did. Chris was not able to make it in person, but he was very supportive online with likes, clicks, and words of encouragement. This led to us unwittingly crossing paths the next night at a Nicolay show…
…and going on the photo walk mentioned above.
Well, Cesar showed up. He commented on Instagram that he would be there and it was very encouraging. And surprising. A perfect stranger did not think it robbery to offer a word of encouragement and show up.
A reminder: There are great people in this world. The question is, who will you choose to focus on?
Me? I will focus on folks like Cesar, Chris, and Preston. Not the random internet troll. Not the “But rather…” dude that has to play devil’s advocate with every utterance they come across. As if the devil needed yet another advocate. His HR office is doing just fine. Not the “Team this brand or that!” type not intent to simply enjoy what they have chosen but also insists on insulting others over their choices… in what are all personal preference and ultimately meaningless. And on and on… No. Those are not the ones that should be given space in my mind. They get pushed aside. The folks above and others who came out like the members of my chorus…
…and others. Would not be fair to those who do show up to spend all of my time pondering the ones who did not. Appreciate them. Show others grace. I have no ill will towards those that did not show up. I have no idea what they may be going through. And I will never know so we move on.
Anyhoo. The photo walk. After a few texts and calls we met in person Sunday to walk around Durham. It was also to help him navigate his Grandfather’s camera. For background on that camera, I defer to Cesar’s Instagram post.
I finished a roll I started at a family function Saturday…
…ran through two more rolls, and Cesar finished a roll and had another in pocket. Interestingly Cesar’s Maxxum 3000i did not want to give up the roll of film it had. It did not rewind automatically and pressing in the rewind button brought nothing but silence. We knew no good could come of opening the back of the camera, so I volunteered to take it with to see if I could get the film out in the changing bag. And I did. Was not bad, but it did not go as smoothly as I expected.
- Powered it on/off and nothing.
- Pulled the battery/put it back and nothing.
- Hit the rewind button again and nothing.
- Put it in the changing bag, opened the back, and confirmed that the film had not rewound.
- Tried to get the camera to release the film and it was not having it.
- Wound the film back into the canister and closed the camera back.
- That set off some mechanical whirring. It’s alive!
- Pulled it out and tried the rewind button again and it started rewinding.
- Put it back in the changing bag.
- The film had not rewound all the way but more importantly the camera released the roll and let me take the rest of the film out.
- Loaded it into the daylight tank and developed it.
Four rolls of color were developed and one roll of black and white. My kitchen looked like a low rent variation of the back of my local camera shop Sunday night. Because of course I broke my own rules. Namely:
- Do not load film in more than one camera at a time.
- Use all color or all black and white film at a time so I am not left developing both.
My own rules were meant to be broken it seems. Just finished scanning the last of it yesterday.
This post here? It is about one of three rolls of film. A favorite.
The film used was Kodak Gold 200, developed with Cinestill CS41. Here are the images.
What can I say? A fantastic film. A fantastic camera.
That is it for now. More pics will come from the remaining rolls of film I went through that day.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 