My "Day in the Life" Project

26 March 2011 - A Day in the Life, a photo by Wayne-K on Flickr.

I shot my first roll of film in years. I trialed Ilford XP2 Super 400 B&W film for the first time....and loved it! The beauty of this film is it can be processed on standard color equipment (C-41 processing). I took it to the local Wolf Camera today and they developed and scanned it in only 30 minutes. It's much more practical than "real" B&W film.

With this roll of film begins a new photographic journey, which I'm calling the "Day in the Life" project. My intent is to capture everyday life in black and white. I anticipate capturing these images on film, using a Nikon FM2 camera and 50mm lens. My plans are to keep it simple and shoot for the joy of photography. My tools will be simple (manual focus, manual exposure film camera), the subjects will be simple (everyday life), and the process will be simple (minimal post-processing). The photos will be stored in this photo set.

Some people think I'm crazy for shooting film again or for spending $200 on an "ancient" manual focus, manual exposure camera. But the goal here is not just the destination (the final print), but the journey itself. I want to manually set the exposure, I want to manually wind the film after each frame, I want to hear and feel the distinctive "click" of a mechanical shutter, and I want to experience the anticipation of waiting for the film to be developed....