The quiet light checklist
I shot most of this series on a single roll, half of it in fading light. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about coastlines. The patient part is seldom the hard part; consistency is.
What I would do differently
The best frame on the sheet was the one I very nearly did not take. A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you. The best advice I got was plainly to slow down. Thanks for reading, and for the generous observations that keep arriving.
Some of this will be obvious; some of it took me years. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. Nothing here requires a medium format camera, though it does make things easier. For a long time I treated grain as an afterthought.
- Stop before you are tired
- Start with portraits and nothing else
- Keep a film scanner within reach
- Write down what you change
The middle part
Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter. I print small first, then decide what deserves to be larger. Scanning is tedious, but it is where the series takes shape.
You can get surprisingly far with a loupe and some patience.
The short version
It is simple to overthink printing. It is harder to just start. Here is what shifted, and what stayed exactly the same. Looking back, the grainy approach was the right call.
I like film stock that shows the marks of how it was made. Most of the editing happens weeks later, when the memory has faded. Nothing here requires a tripod, though it does make things easier. Between printing and scanning negatives, the second one taught me more. The trick, if there is one, is to leave plenty of room for slip-ups.
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about grain. The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once. Between printing and shooting film, the second one taught me more.