Film Swap Night

On August 6th the Ann Arbor Area Crappy Camera Club (A3C3) did another Dexter Film Swap. The idea is that everyone brings a roll of 35mm or 120 film (or both) - it gets placed into a bag, and people reach in to grab a different roll of film than the one that was brought in. We then split up, and usually have about 90 minutes to shoot the film and then meet at the pub afterwards. The point is to have fun, and use something that we might not have ever tried before. Of course, some of us try to do our best to bring something wacky. Expired C-41 film is usually the norm, but slide film and b&w also get in there. I ended up getting a 35mm roll of the Revolog Tesla 2 film and a 120 roll of Fuji 400 color film. The Revolog films are unique. I think the guys selling the film are exposing the film stock to various static devices, etc., to produce strange and random effects on the film. Thankfully, there are only 12 or so frames on each roll. The Tesla 2 film has lightning bolts! (Thanks, Scott!).

Dexter is a different place to shoot for many of the A3C3 folks, though I confess to photographing there quite a bit. Train tracks go past the Dexter Mill, and if one waits for the Amtrak train at 7:30 pm, one can get a fun shot...though I didn't expect a scene from "Back to the Future" when I took this!

You can see the randomness sometimes coincides quite well with the subject, as in the train. Serendipity Plus!

The roll of 120 was a more traditional ISO 400 Fuji print film, which I shot in my Great Wall camera. I thought I got some decent shots with it. The Great Wall medium-format SLR definitely fits the "crappy camera" category, as mine has some vignetting at the top of the back, and it appears to have a small light leak or flare on the inside. Maybe I will have to make sure all the surfaces are painted flat black.

Considering the challenge of the setting sun, I think I did okay.

The Great Wall is a fun, but quirky camera. The film swap is a great way to do something different and shake up your creative process. It gets people shooting film cameras, and that's what it's all about. The food and beer at Aubrey's in Dexter was good, too.