Film, fear and delight

If you've never shot film then you probably don't understand the feeling I'm about to describe. Total fear because you have no idea if what you photographed actually worked or not!

It wasn't a situation you would get into on a regular photo shoot, it was a feeling saved for those times when you went out of the bounds of photographic normality.

When you had to put your camera on a tripod, leave the shutter open for 30 seconds or so and hope that the people in front of you would light up the walls of the cave enough for you to be able to see something.

You did it with your fingers and toes crossed and you shot lots of images hoping that one (or maybe even more!) would actually turn out OK. Then after a couple of weeks you'd get back to home base and put the films in to get developed. When they were ready a few hours later you'd quickly pull the slide sheets out of their packets to find the right roll of film. You'd hone in on the ones shot in the caves and quickly put them on the lightbox (which was conveniently located next to the cash register for all the paranoid photographers!)

Then you would have either one of two reactions. Either total disappointment because something had gone wrong. Aperture not open wide enough, shutter not open long enough, not enough light hitting the walls of the cave. Or you might whoop for joy and invite everyone over to take a look. That's what I did with this picture. Ah it's a nice way to be when little things like this can keep you happy for days. :)

I have two sons - the youngest of whom has very severe allergies to milk, egg and peanuts. When I say severe I mean stop breathing in a couple of minutes severe. Something that has had my wife and I living a kind of paranoid existence for the last 4 years. But I should put the sentences above in the past tense because today a re-test showed that he is no longer allergic to either peanuts or egg. A fact proved by the fact that he ate a peanut and had no reaction.

While little pictures make me happy, big things like my family being healthy make me ecstatic. There's a big discussion on microstock over here so of course I had to get in and say my piece. But at the end of the day, you know what, agree or disagree there are more important things in life. Appreciate what you got.

Oh and would I go back to that feeling of dread with film? Not on your nelly! :)