What is a SHELL?
There are many terms for this. Burn shot, first frame, first of the roll, but I call it a SHELL. It stands for "sexy, half-exposure light leak." Why sexy? Well, I have always been attracted to these sorts of photographs. So, sexy! The rest is self explanatory. And when I get a SHELL at the start of a roll, I call it SHELL Shock. Sure, it's kitschy. But I like a little bit of kitsch.
The first time I noticed this was with a roll of Ilford Delta 100 I put through my Pentax ME. The really cool thing is that all sorts of weirdness happened with this roll. The second frame has an equally cool light leak, from the other side - odd - and then there's a double exposure with both kids on there from different exposures. This one wasn't anything exciting, a barely exposed photo of Wes playing near the television in our family room. But it did give me the idea that this was something that I could almost force to happen every time.
As time has gone on, I have attempted these SHELLs with quite literally every roll of film I shoot. Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't. I usually get a SHELL, but it isn't a precise science. So, it is really SHELL Shock when it happens!
Intentional SHELL Shock
These are some of the first SHELLs I attempted with intent. I had moved on to a Leica R4s and had subsequently been shooting more film. These were made with with the Summicron R 50 lens, which is an amazing lens. And I think that allowing yourself to simply enjoy that you may get something artistic in the light leak is the approach to these. I lucked out that it was only a slender SHELL in the shot of Link and Teresa with Mulan at Magic Kingdom. Because if it had been anything like the portrait of Wes, Link would have been burned out of the photo. These photos gave me the idea to begin compositing SHELLs with a little more care and attention, ensuring that my subject was always in the right half of the frame.
So I've starting trying to make these first exposures on each roll portraits with classic Rule of Thirds composition on the right most third of the frame.
Subsequently, I was able to intentionally make this photograph of Steph in Bimini while celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary last summer. I had just loaded a roll of CineStill 50D into my R4s and used my test shot to make a portrait. The really strange thing is that while odd issues with exposure or lighting can occasionally make me feel like I missed the capturing of an important moment, I never feel that way with a SHELL.
With a SHELL, I always think of it as a happy accident. I use it as an opportunity to warm up and get an extra shot in on the roll. On a 36-exposure roll I can usually squeeze 38 or even 39 frames out of it before needing to rewind.
Story Time with SHELL
But if I'm trying to do something artistic with SHELL shots and push my sense of composition, why not try telling a story using SHELLs? Technically it is possible, but there must be some serendipitous timing for it to happen.
Exactly serendipity is how I would describe the timing of this SHELL, however. I was standing on the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan when I loaded this roll into my Leica M3 and spotted the scene in front of me. Even after midnight, the streets were alive. With a roll of CineStill 800T loaded up, this was a great opportunity to get some beautiful halation on film with the story of different folks exploring the New York night.
Even the light leak worked with me as the Radio City Music Hall marquee was left untouched. Serendipity, indeed.
Final Focus
This is a shorter blog entry than I usually write, but it also allowed me the opportunity to reflect on these SHELLs in a way that I had rarely done. Since discovering that first SHELL on that roll of Ilford Delta I have chased them and tried to use these sorts of photographs to do something artistic.
I can't say I know exactly what I wish to do with these SHELLS, but I can say that I enjoy seeing them and the shock that they bring when they work out as well as these have. I'll continue to attempt fun and exciting SHELLs as I continue to shoot film. And who knows! Maybe in a few months I'll have a SHELL Shock - First Frame Madness, Part II to write!
More SHELL Photographs
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