Slowing Down

There's this beautiful thing that happens to me in the summer. Invariably, I will shoot film...like, a lot of film. As in, more than I usually do, which is already quite a bit.

From late August of last year through mid May, I chased my perfect DSLRs. I started out with a Pentax K-3 because of my existing collection of 70's and 80's Pentax lenses. But then I started adapting 80's and 90's Nikon lenses to my mirrorless cameras and got myself a D700. This led me eventually to the D3S and ultimately the D3X. Great! My ideal DSLR experience for my personal digital photography was set.

While I found this DSLR I shot some film, but mostly for my wedding and engagement work, as this is often included in the packages my clients purchase. But now that summer was here and I would be traveling, well it was time to really get back to film.

Baseball player focusing intently while batting during a professional game in black and white photography.

Unlike last summer when I spent virtually all my time on the Leica M3 and Summicron 40mm, I was now shooting Nikon cameras and lenses (although I did put one roll of Tri-X through my M3 and thought it nice to get back to that). I found myself leaning heavily on the F3 and AI-S 35mm f/2. This combination basically took me through the entire summer, with occasional switches to other lenses...and one faff that had me switch over to another system entirely for one week. But more on that later.

This started with a Father's Day weekend staycation on Miami Beach. I brought with me only the F3, 35mm f/2, and Kodak UltraMax. I treated that weekend's photography as documentary point of view. I left the camera slung around my neck - unless I was in deeper than knee-high water - and made exposures when the muse was upon me.

A black and white panoramic shot shows someone floating in dark rippling water while wearing a baseball cap.

This slowing down was such a nice change of pace from the photography I had done most of the fall. From January through May, I found myself shooting either a wedding, engagement, or portrait session about once a week and sometimes multiples in the same week. I love that. It's the very definition of problems one hopes to have. But that meant that slowing down and shooting fun times on film felt extra rewarding.

That Father's Day weekend was a much needed escape. The kid's were out of school, Steph and I had down time from events, and lounging around the beach is never a bad thing. In fact, most of our vacations find us near and in the water. I'm sure it's a universal thing, this connection to water. But it's where we feel most at home. Be it in a pool or at the beach, it's our favorite place to be. And the F3 and 35mm f/2 was the perfect combo for it.

Rear view mirror of a car reflects bright lights from a vehicle behind at night on a dark road.

Pilgrimage

Many years ago we started something of an annual pilgrimage. We spend a week in Cape Coral. About 15 minutes from Ft. Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Captiva, this week serves as a way for us to disconnect from our usually fast paced lives in Miami and enjoy quality family time. This year, as has happened occasionally in the past, we were in Cape Coral for the week of 4th of July. This means we participated in that oh so American pastime, a parade of vehicles decked out in red, white, and blue.

For this trip I again packed the F3 and 35mm f/2. In fact it was the only camera and lens I packed in my bag. I brought a few rolls of my workhorse film, UltraMax, and spent a week again shooting documentary point of view style photos.

Woman relaxing on patio sofa holding red cup, wearing beige top, with teal pillow and glass window behind her.

A shirtless man and young child stand on a wooden dock at sunset, overlooking a calm waterway with boats and homes.

We spent most of our time in the Air BnB that we rented for the week. We always look for places where we can meander from the pool to the kitchen to make and sip on spicy margaritas and enjoy lazy afternoons. It's also important for us to have our Labrador with us for this week away. She's as integral a part of our family as anyone else.

After so many years in Cape Coral, we've found lots of restaurants and activities that we visit. We make sure to hit our favorite water park, sushi spot, and video arcade every time we are in town. But it's really all about the lounging around. That's why we do this in the first place.

Black and white urban nighttime scene with blurred bokeh lights and silhouettes creating a moody atmosphere.

We usually luck out and meet up with our friends Janet and Manny. Their son has been one of Link's best friends since they were two years old. They also have a house two block from Ft. Myers Beach. So if we are both in at the same time, we make sure to stop by for a visit. Beach chairs, beers, sandwiches, and fun are guaranteed every time

Many folks online will expound upon the dangers of shooting with a camera at the beach. I've never understood this. In fact I am fervently in the opposite camp. What's the point in having fantastic cameras and lenses if you aren't using them to make beautiful photos of your family during fun times?

A black and white photograph shows a row of people sitting at a bar counter in a dimly lit establishment.

In fact, many of my personal favorite photos have been made at the beach. And with tough-as-nails cameras like the F3, I understand even less why folks are terrified of shooting at the beach. Many today will completely write off consumer grade film cameras, insisting that only professional grade cameras are worth their time. But then they won't use these cameras in anything other than perfect conditions.

I cannot say this enough: USE YOUR GEAR. Use your head too, of course. But with the proper precautions, what have you to fear if you have brought top tier cameras and lenses with you? These cameras were once brought into war zones, but all of a sudden they can't handle a sprinkle of rain or ocean spray? Give me a break. And it's how I most enjoy summer break.

A couple in wedding attire shares an intimate moment on the ground against a concrete architectural backdrop.

The Most Magical Place on Earth

Red walkway with orange railings on a ferry deck under an overcast sky, leading to the horizon.

Red outdoor running track on a ferry deck with ocean horizon and blue sky in the background, marked 190M.

We came back home from the west coast of Florida and had a whirlwind couple of days. I had an engagement shoot and wedding, while Steph had one of the biggest weddings of her career. We weren't home for more than four days before we took off again, this time for Orlando. We were headed to Walt Disney World with Link and Wes. I had packed my camera bag, once again, with the F3 and 35mm f/2. I chucked a few rolls of UltraMax into the bag and left it on my home office chair ready to be packed into the car as soon as we were ready to go. And then a crazy thing happened. Something that has never happened to me before, and I hope to never happen to me again. I left the camera bag!

I know exactly how it happened too. I had packed all our bags into the car, as I usually do. I always take my camera bag last since leaving a camera in a car in the Florida summer, even for ten minutes, can be devastating for the electronics and especially for the lens elements and oils. So, I'd packed the car and had the camera bag slung over my shoulder when Steph said that she'd forgotten to gas up her car, she'd take it to the gas station right by the house and come back.

I put the bag down by our kitchen counter and sat with the boys to watch a few Mickey Mouse cartoons while she gassed up the car. What I didn't account for was a Wes tantrum the moment she left. It took just about the entire trip to the gas station and back for Wes to finally calm down. I was a bit frazzled by the time she returned.

Landscaped pedestrian walkway lined with lush palm trees under bright blue sky at a tropical resort.

We got the kids in the car and took off for Orlando. Not before I remembered to grab the Disneyland cap my grandparents bought for me at the Disneyland Hotel on my 10th birthday, the same cap that has been with me on just about every trip I've ever taken to a Disney theme park since then.

What I didn't remember was my camera bag. How could I be such a putz? I forgot my camera bag!

But wait, my in-laws were joining us in a day's time. Steph and I were leaving to Europe as soon as we'd get back from Orlando and we wanted to treat them to a nice vacation as a thank you. SCORE! I have a way of getting my camera bag. I called up my father-in-law, Mike, and told him to grab the camera bag that was sitting on my office chair and bring it with them to Disney. Easy peasy.

Baseball field batting cage with chain link fencing stands on green grass under blue sky and white clouds.

Something else I forgot, in the frantic attempt to fix my screw up, was that I had taken the bag off my office chair and left it by the kitchen counter.

I also forgot that I had been doing some regular maintenance on my film cameras in the few days between these trips, and I had left another camera bag on my office chair. That bag; which had my old Leica R4s, Elmarit 35mm f/2.8, and Vario Elmar 28-70mm f/3.5; was picked up by my father-in-law and brought to Orlando. Not too bad, I initially thought. It wasn't the F3 and 35mm f/2 which I had packed, but it was certainly close enough. And the R4s was the first film camera I ever fell in love with. I'd made a lot of great photos with this camera. And, of course, the Elmarit 35mm had been my favorite lens for that system. In fact, I'd sold all my Leica R gear except for that camera and these two lenses.

A black and white photo of people in a restaurant setting with hanging lights and festive decorations.

Tropical beach view framed by palm tree fronds and lush greenery, with turquoise ocean waters under a blue sky.

Tropical beach with yellow and green umbrellas over white lounge chairs on white sand beside crystal blue water.

There were three problems with this, which I initially did not see. The first was that there was no film packed in this bag. That was easy enough to fix. I overnighted two three-packs of UltraMax to the Yacht Club Resort where we were staying and would have film the next day. Not too bad. I got my film halfway through our day at Hollywood Studios. I shot about half a roll and it seemed at first like things were finally going my way.

However, I noticed almost right away that the light meter was giving me readings that seemed wildly off from where my eye was telling me they should be. I stopped trusting the light meter and started metering by eye. It was then that I finally figured out what the problem was: the batteries in my R4s were running out of power.

Tropical beach scene with orange umbrellas, white sand, and crystal-clear turquoise water under a blue sky.

"That's ok," I thought. I'd spent enough time reading light by eye while shooting my Leica M3 that this was like riding a bike; you never really forget. I used my bastardized version of Sunny 16 (which has me using f/11 as my sunny f/stop and one shutter speed under the ISO to make sure I never underexpose), and had properly exposed photos for every frame of these rolls.

But then the third problem was made known to me.

The reason that camera bag was sitting on my office chair is because I was doing some maintenance on my cameras. In that process I had used a rocket blower to get all the specks out of the viewfinder. I used it on the mirror, mirror box, focusing screen, and even up into the prism by removing the focusing screen.

Two young boys smiling in turquoise ocean water, wearing rash guards, enjoying a sunny beach day.

And therein lay the problem.

I had removed the focusing screen, and replaced it the mirror box...evidently not properly.

I didn't notice until the third day at Disney World, but I hadn't snapped it back into place properly. So the focus had been thrown off for all the pictures I made at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Only when I attempted to make a landscape of the boardwalk that runs along the Yacht Club did I notice that what should have been a shot focused at infinity was reading as four feet on the hyper distance scale.

How could I not have noticed before?! All those shots would be out of focus! What a dope I was!

Smiling boy on an outdoor amusement park ride with other passengers visible in the background.

I pushed the thoughts of missed shots out of my mind. There was nothing I could do about it at that point. And, at any rate, neither Hollywood Studios nor Epcot would have given me the shots I could get at Magic Kingdom. Plus, we were visiting Magic Kingdom on my birthday!

We took off for the park, met my aunt, uncle, and cousin at the park, and had an amazing time. I made more documentary style photos, point of view shots on roller coasters and flume rides and such, and made some of the most honest, and favorite, pictures I've ever made at Disney World.

Some of the shots from the other parks hit, mainly the ones where I'd set the focus to infinity while on roller coasters and just fired away, but really the Magic Kingdom shots were the ones that hit.

Young boy holding a toy at an outdoor amusement park near a Speedway sign on a sunny day.

In the end, I had quite a few shots I was happy with, and quite a few more memories of fun and family to hold on to.

Between June and mid-July we'd taken three different vacations and I'd had a fantastic time enjoying them and making photos at the same time. What more could I ask for?

Well, I guess a camera bag with the gear I actually packed and intended to use would be a nice ask. But that was behind me. Because when we got back from Orlando Steph and I had exactly two days to pack for eight days in Europe. We'd start in Amsterdam, move on to Brussels, and end in Paris. And if that wasn't a picture making trip worth looking forward to, I don't know what is!

To be continued in Summer of '26 on Film, Part II: Adventures in Amsterdam and Brussels.