Annual Something or Other

This trip has become something of a tradition for me. I am neither a debate teacher nor coach, but I somehow became an unofficial advisor for many of the debaters at my school. I also happen to be good friends with the actual debate coach. So, last year he invited me to join the debate team on a competition in New Orleans. I obviously said yes, because who turns down a trip to New Orleans? Steph came with me last year, but was unable to come this year. However, those that did come were some of my best friends from work. This obviously means that the students were having to remind us, the chaperones and coaches, that we were, in fact, adults, and to quit having so much fun. As I've just gotten my film from this trip developed, I thought I'd write about this trip and reflect on what worked as I again traveled with one camera and lens, my trusty Leica M3 and TTArtisan Summilux 50.

UltraMax 400 in Daytime

I'm learning that everything I thought about light sensitivity was all wrong. I used to think, "well, it's daytime so go for low ISO." The problem became that when I was indoors or the day became overcast, I was then in a bind. I loaded up this roll of UltraMax, but didn't have an opportunity to make my first exposure until lunchtime, when we stopped into an oyster restaurant in the French Quarter.


"What was better," you might ask, "the Bloody Marys or the oysters?" To which my response is simply, "yes." Everything at Coterie was divine. And what a way to unwind after a somewhat hectic and early start to our morning with a flight and car rental all before I had broken my fast. So, by the time we sat down for lunch, I was famished.


I made this exposure as we waited for Gabriel, the debate coach to park his car.

Two refreshing iced cocktails with citrus garnishes sit next to a menu on a wooden table in a dimly lit bar.
A person in a light blue sweater gazes thoughtfully out a window while seated in a restaurant.
A patron in a black hat and glasses smiles while relaxing at a casual dining establishment.

UltraMax is never anyone's first choice for portraits. Hell, it isn't mine either. So, I'm not claiming to have discovered some secret emulsion magic here. But I am claiming that UltraMax is perfectly useable - maybe even nice - for portraits. Its color recreation is quite accurate to how my eyes see colors, but also give a very neutral palette to work with in post. This means if I want to bring down the reds or the greens, I can do so because the colors are accurately recreated with this film. Skin tones, likewise, are very accurate. They aren't as pastel as you'd get with something like Portra or as lively as you'd get with something like Pro Image, but they are pleasing. This photo of Gabriel, resting his chin on his hand, is a great example of how gradients are recreated here, leaving a very beautiful representation of his skin. The photo of Danny has more even and diffused light on him, but also gives a great idea of how well UltraMax handles contrast.

A pedestrian walks past a green building with 'Delacroi' signage and vintage street lamp in an urban setting.
A narrow brick alleyway with string lights leads to a distant figure walking beneath industrial lamps.

After lunch, our students said the only thing that would prepare them for their debate competition was a trip to Cafe Du Monde. Cafe au lait and beignets? I obviously said yes. It was a short walk to Decatur Street and I needed to burn off the calories from such a heavy lunch.


Every street in the French Quarter is filled with life. Even those that normally don't spring to life until the evening have a bit of something going on. I didn't have time to make street photos how I normally do, which involves finding a setting I enjoy first and waiting for the right subject to interact with that setting second. But I was able to snap a few frames as we walked to sugary goodness.


Once we turned onto Decatur, however, we could sense something was wrong. Du Monde was closed! Some sort of emergency called out fire and police. So we hung our heads low and resigned ourselves to prepping for the debates.

An equestrian statue stands dramatically in front of a white church with twin spires against a cloudy sky.

UltraMax 400 in Nighttime

We judged debate competitions until late in the evening. But once it was lights out for our students, we hit the streets again. Danny was feeling tired, so he elected to stay behind at the hotel with our students. So, Gabe and Ralph (my film club co moderator who appears in quite a few of my photos on these blogs) hit the streets with me.


I had brought a few rolls of CineStill 800T with me, but still had a few frames left on this roll of UltraMax. I had already started this roll at box speed, ISO 400, so I had a dilemma, shoot 400 speed film in the dead of night, or roll it back and try to get back to the frame I was at in the morning.


I remember thinking it was stupid to try to shoot 400 speed film at night, but why not?! I'm so glad I did, because the results were pretty great.

A dimly lit brick building facade at night with a street lamp casting shadows on green doors.
Festive blue LED lights and hanging star decorations adorn the exterior of a brick building.
An illuminated holiday wreath with orange lights hangs above a framed display on a brick wall.

I set my aperture as wide as my lens would allow, which thankfully was a very fast f1.4, and set my shutter speed to as slow as I thought the camera police would allow without a tripod...and then went slower, to 1/10. I thought there was no way any of these photos would be usable. They'd either be seriously underexposed at best and at worst just a mess of motion blur. The results, however, were actually beautiful?


We started at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, my favorite bar in NOLA. If you've been there, you know how dark it is in there, and yet these exposures came out pretty great. This one of the piano player, one of my favorite things about Lafitte's, was really surprising.


Is UltraMax actually useable at night with a steady hand?

Green string lights create an ambient glow in a dark bar or restaurant setting.

I kept releasing the M3's shutter, not even sure that I was focusing correctly. When the light is this low, even the very easy to use and bright as hell focusing patch on the M3 becomes hard to see. But, I was throwing caution to the wind and enjoying a sazerac and atmosphere. So I alternated between letting the M3 hang from my neck, taking sips of liquid courage, and holding my cup between my teeth and the viewfinder to my eye.


Something I noticed was no one seemed to care that a dude was in this bar with a camera and photographing them. Maybe they thought it was so dark and the camera so old that there was no chance they'd be effectively photographed. But I do know that at no point was my pointing and shooting killing the vibe. This is my favorite thing about Lafitte's, the vibe.

Atmospheric bar scene at night with warm lighting and patrons sitting along a dimly lit counter.
Silhouetted figures in a dark room illuminated by green and orange ambient lighting.
Cozy bar interior decorated with holiday lights and a glowing star ornament hanging from above.

While my go-to nighttime and low-light film will likely always be CineStill 800T (although, I've decided to try pushing Portra 800 on our Christmas vacation...eek!), this little experiment with UltraMax 400 at box speed for nighttime was nothing short of a success in my eyes. And while I would have loved an extra stop of light or two to give me some higher shutter speeds, wow does the M3 handle slow shutter speeds exceedingly well! Pushing these extreme lighting scenarios and camera settings on myself has really given me some perspective on what I can reasonably capture with this set up.

CineStill 800T at 3200

As soon as that roll of UltraMax as finished, I loaded up my first roll of CineStill. We walked around the French Quarter, staying off Bourbon Street and opting instead to bar hop on our way to Frenchmen Street for some live jazz.


I felt much more comfortable once I knew what I was getting with my film. At this point I feel very comfortable and familiar with pushing CineStill. Rating it at 3200, pushing it two stops, gives me results that I love. The skin tones are still pleasing, the highlights bloom beautifully, and the blacks are inky and dark. For obvious reasons, every frame feels like a screen capture from a movie.


Simply put, this film is beautiful. And I don't think I will ever stop shooting it. It makes street photography at night not just possible, but fun.

People gathered outside on a city street at night under decorative star lights.
Side profile of someone wearing a dark cap against a nighttime urban backdrop.
Nighttime gathering of people socializing outside a brick building.

We bar hopped until early morning, smoking cigars as we walked from corner to corner. I got this moody profile portrait of Ralph with his cigar at what was likely our favorite stop of the night. Harry's Corner was filled with locals and regulars having a great time. We made some friends that helped us keep the night going there. A man named Steve worked the door at this place and was happy to pose for this street portrait. The woman in the background, Casey, had set up a monster playlist of 60's and 70's rock and roll that really set the vibe.

Harry's made last call, and after a few more stops we ended up at a our final stop for the night, a joint called Turtle Bay. At this point we needed something to gnosh on, so we stopped in and got comfy. The temperature had dropped quite a bit over the last few hours and my light track jacket wasn't doing much against the biting temperature, so I was happy to warm myself inside.


Gabe and Ralph ordered some sandwiches, while I ordered some friend mushrooms. I don't know if it was the late hour, the many drinks we'd had, or the cold, but those mushrooms were damn good. We enjoyed the hospitality for a bit and called it a night. We had an early start the next day and had definitely stayed out too late as it was. So we packed it in and went back to get a few hours of shut eye before having to judge some more debate the next day.

Interior of a sports bar with televisions and rows of liquor bottles behind the counter.

ISO 3200 at Daytime

Had it not been for the fact that I shot CineStill 800T pushed to 3200 at daytime in new York a few short months before, I would have thought it impossible. But because of the results I got in New York, which you can read about here, I was confident in finishing this roll of CineStill in between judging debates.


A walk around the neighborhood where the campus was located yielded some very picturesque sights, starting with this early 50's Chevy pickup. This thing had seen some better days, but considering its age, was in pretty great shape. I spent a few minutes with it, before moving on, but found it very enjoyable and almost cathartic to spend this time with an antique vehicle that was produced around the same time as the camera photographing it.

Close-up of a vintage blue truck's front headlight and chrome grille section.

Around the corner from that old Chevy was great coffee shop with this old Citroen parked out front. It was clearly decorative, as it was in a state of disrepair, but still so photogenic. Now, I've never been a big fan of Citroens, often preferring Peugoet's designs, but this little Citroen had something special about it. I found a sideview mirror that was pointed back at me and wasted no time in making a Vivian Maier inspired self-portrait. Focus was nailed, but the mirror was in such rough shape, that it is not exactly easy to make out.


Regardless, I loved that I had this CineStill with me for daytime. Obviously some 400 speed film would have been optimal with this light, but it was almost poetic that I had used ISO 400 for some nighttime shots, while using ISO 3200 for daytime. It is almost laughable, except for the fact that the exposures came out pretty great. Shooting film almost exclusively has forced me to push my boundaries of comfort and just try things.


With a digital camera, I would have adjusted ISO accordingly to get back to a comfortable aperture and shutter speed. Not so with film. With film, you've got to decide if you want to get funky, or roll back the emulsion into the canister and drop another roll in. In the past I've travelled with two different film cameras to avoid this issue. In fact, I wrote about how I attempted this in New York back in October. But the issue is that I wanted to keep shooting with my M3. I guess the answer to this is to travel with two M3s...


...oh, boy, I'm buying a second M body in 2025 aren't I?

Detail shot of a classic car's round side mirror and headlight assembly.

These suburban streets might not have been as sexy as the streets found in the French Quarter, but I am a fan of these slice-of-life, William Eggleston-esque photos. There is beauty in the mundane, as Eggleston proved many times.


I attempted some suburban style street photography and was mostly happy with the results. Thankfully I was stopped down to f16 and was able to get some incredibly deep focus in this shot. 50mm may not be anyone's first thought when it comes to candid street photography, but it is possible. The subject separation is pretty great with this TTArtisan lens, even when stopped down to the extreme.


I had to get back to the competition to judge some more, but soon enough we were back at the hotel, tucking the kiddos in and heading back out to the French Quarter for shenanigans.

Cyclist riding through an urban intersection on a sunny day with white buildings in background.

French Quarter and CineStill, Redux

Gabe decided to stay behind this night, so Danny and Ralph joined me out and about. We decided to give Bourbon Street a proper lap and found it wholly uninspiring for a good time. It was not our vibe at all. However, the street photography opportunities were totally inspiring.


I got my favorite shot of the trip with the very first frame of this second roll of CineStill 800T, also pushed to 3200. These street musicians were huddled around each other and producing some sultry bluegrass. As a musician myself, I am never surprised by how talented other musicians are. And I've learned never to judge a musician by the venue in which he or she plays. But this was otherworldly in its quality. These dudes could play. And I was lucky that they chose this exact spot, with a street lamp shining down on them beautifully, as their spot for the night.

Musicians performing on the street with instruments and equipment in a dimly lit urban setting.

A little further up the street from the street musicians was this gorgeous Harley Davidson Sportster.


I've always been into motorcycles, but have never owned one myself. I've pined after an Indian bike for years, but Steph is not into the idea of scraping me off the pavement while we have small children at home. Of course, I am happy to oblige, but still long for the wind to tussle my hair on a motorbike.


So, when I saw my favorite Harley sitting on the street with a bit of artificial light hitting it directly, I saw a fortuitously timed photographic moment. I composed the shot first, wanting to keep the bike big and center in the frame, but not taking up the entire frame. I then focused, knowing that at f1.4 I would be able to get some beautiful subject separation from the background.

A sleek black motorcycle with orange wheels parked on a city street at night.
People walking under streetlights on a dark urban street corner at night.
View of Fally's Irish Pub storefront and street corner at night with glowing lamps.

It seemed like everywhere I pointed my lens there was some story unfolding. A man enjoying a cigar on a quiet side street, a couple on their way back home after a night of drinking, friends enjoying some greasy food to help them keep the drinking going for some more time yet. Everywhere there were stories being told.


I wasn't into this vibe on Bourbon Street, but the photography was incredible. I felt inspired and wanted to stay longer, but we knew we'd stayed out too late the night before and decided after one walk up the main thoroughfare that we should probably head back and get some much needed rest.


It was rough to leave so many exposures left on that roll of CineStill, but I knew we'd be back the next day before our evening flight and I'd certainly get some more daytime shots.

Group of people gathered in a warmly lit indoor hallway or corridor.
People socializing outside a small illuminated bar with string lights at night.
Crowded nighttime street scene with neon signs and holiday decorations in an entertainment district.

CineStill Back in Daytime

We were back for some early morning judging, but the competition ended just before midday. So we returned to the French Quarter to finally get those Du Monde beignets and cafe au laits we had discussed a few days before. As we got in line, these two staff members were on their break and enjoying some time apart from the customers. I really loved how intimate it felt. I almost felt intrusive if it hadn't been for the fact that they seemed not to care that I was fiddling with a camera.


These sorts of street photos are my favorite. They are authentic. Nothing staged, nothing outrageous. Just people going about their business. I feel life should be documented and these sorts of street photos do as good a job at that as anything else that I know of.

People relaxing along a covered walkway with white walls and lanterns.
A person with a dark beard in warm indoor lighting with a blurred background.
Silhouetted musicians perform on a dimly lit stage with instruments and microphones visible.

I made this portrait of Ralph waiting for his coffee and beignets at Du Monde. Something about his face and his expressions makes him a subject I enjoy photographing. He's also a big fan of photography himself and is always willing to placate me.


We had our Du Monde goodness and then walked over to the French Market. Along the way, I stopped to make this photograph of a blues band playing on Decatur Street. The slide guitarist happened to look over just as I released the shutter for some fantastic timing.


And speaking of fantastic timing, the shot of these two playing chess on the street could not have been better timed. The beret wearer happened to hit the timer just as his opponent hung his head low in despair, and just as I loosed the shutter! So much happening on the streets of New Orleans!

Two people engaged in a chess game on an outdoor table with cars in the background.

Final Focus

This blog is a little longer than my usual, but I thought it important to write about these films together, since the use of daytime and nighttime ISO melded together.


I am, again, happy I decided to take just one camera and lens with me. It takes away the desire to change lenses and allows me to compose for one focal length. The M3, I've found, really helps me see in 50mm. Where just a few months ago I felt 50mm was too restrictive for street photography, I now feel like it helps me compose better stories and as I look around, I see those frame lines in my normal field of vision now.


Staying on just film for another trip also helped me out here. It forced me to make decisions about how to work within the confines I put on myself. Roll the film back and swap rolls? or push on and meter at an insane ISO for this situation. I learned so much about how to use my M3 for these situations. I almost feel like it is an extension of my hand at this point. But most of all I learned that there's never enough rolls of film to take with me to New Orleans.

Worker in denim jacket and cap takes break at casual dining establishment.

More New Orleans on Film

View through cafe window showing people walking past on urban street.
Cyclist in blue outfit rides through city street with buildings in background.
Street performer balancing on equipment near food truck and storefront with green awning.
Bustling street scene with shops, outdoor dining, and pedestrians walking along tree-lined sidewalk.
Christmas decorations and tree displayed at entrance gate with visitors viewing the holiday scene.
Historic St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans with white spires against cloudy sky and tropical plants.
Busy street scene with pedestrians walking past colorful urban buildings.
Warm glow of fire illuminates dark space with warning signs visible.
Purple illuminated Christmas tree with twinkling lights glows against a dark background.
Neon orange OPEN sign glows in a dark window display.
Dimly lit bar interior with shelves of bottles illuminated by warm ambient lighting.
Two figures in dark clothing and hats stand in conversation at night.
Vintage street sign and lantern illuminated at night.
People gathered under street lamps on a corner at night.
Brick archway with gas lamps leads down a covered passageway.

All images © 2020-2024 David Ulloa Studio. All rights reserved.