My First Medium Format Film Photo Shoot

Yesterday I went downtown to try my new camera. Since acquiring the device, I equipped it with a new strap so I don’t have to keep extracting the Rolleicord out of its cool-looking but extremely impractical leather case. After reading the Rolleicord VA manual and watching some videos on YouTube, I successfully loaded the Tmax 100 film into the camera. Lastly, I downloaded the nifty Ligtmate app on my iPhone to attempt setting up the F-stop and shutter speed properly: I was finally ready to go and photograph the world!

Getting acquainted with the camera

The focusing hood is what makes the Rolleicord sleek, as you can glance at it to make sure your subject is in focus and take the picture totally looking nonchalant, which is great for candid street photography. The challenge for me is that the reflection you see is flipped horizontally and I always tend to choose the wrong side when trying to reposition myself so my focal point is aligned properly.

Another difficulty I encountered was setting up the depth of field with the focusing knob and estimating how far passersby were from me so I could time when to trigger the shot. To practice this, I sat down on a bench in a park and picked a spot on the ground for which I had all the parameters accurately selected: when strollers would pass this mark, they should be in focus and I could take the picture. This ended up being a waiting game for which I lost patience quickly. Though there was some traffic, nobody came near the location I had chosen, so I decided to be brave and patrol the nearby streets to catch strangers as I walked past them. I remember feeling extremely self-conscious, worried about being caught, but hopeful that I may catch a glimpse of something compelling. Well, we’ll never know as that film was accidentally ruined!

Lessons in medium format film development

After taking the twelve shots, I winded the film. I trusted my husband Ricci, the amateur 35mm film developer, to process it. He did not have confidence the film was winded correctly and just threw the spool in the developing bag without looking at it so it did not get exposed mistakenly. It took him quite a while to load the film onto the reel as, unlike 35mm film, medium format has a paper backing that needs to be discarded. Well, when he was done, we discovered that the paper backing was on the reel and the film was irremediably damaged. Definitely learned from that blunder!