Since very young, I've had a film camera (I still have it) but I never fully got excited about film photography, at the time it was just the only camera I had.. Since owning digital cameras I have never really understood the attraction to film, it's increasingly more expensive & as a result, learning is so slow.. (Plus, film photographers always seem to take the same pictures of vintage cars, maybe that's just the YouTube hipsters..) BUT for a while now, I've been wanting to deliberately slow down, to shoot more thoughtfully & to adjust my instincts a little, so I have been long been looking for a suitable camera.
I chose the Mamiya 645 Pro primarily for its waist-level viewfinder. My hope is that it will make shooting in the streets slightly less intrusive, despite the camera's relatively large size. It's also 120mm film so the quality of the images should be better, another disappointment of (my) 35mm photography in the past.
So, I shot the first roll on a walk through familiar surroundings recently & really enjoyed getting to grips with the camera, it's viewfinder quirks & light metering on iPhone challenges.. It was only a learning exercise, the images aren't super interesting but it's a good start maybe. I'll definitely be shooting a few personal projects with this camera soon but for now I just wanted to share the first shots with you here (all 15 in order on index below) ..
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