Traveling...
"How the shit does this camera work?" - Us.
We love traveling. Getting out and adventuring into new terrain, excited for what we will see, who we will meet, and wondering if our van will make it through whatever off-the-beaten-track roads we come across in the heartlands of the country. We have found some of our favorite places on Earth just taking the next road we come across and going down it. The unknown is an addiction for Jamie and I. We thrive on it and reference Kath and Dave from Portlandia all too often. These characters live to be stressed out and over-obsessive. The sense of adventure can be romantic but thank our stars for roadside assistance.
I do not claim to be a photographer in any sense of the word. Most of my Camera Roll is pictures of either our dogs or accidental screenshots I have taken while attempting to open my iPhone. We do have an old Canon AE-1 film camera that we take with us when we travel and I freaking love it. My dad won it at a local auction house in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He got a box of vintage camera parts for his bid of $10, and this camera was still intact and functional. I feel like Peter Parker with this thing, plus it gives me a little cred when I see other self-proclaimed travel photographers with oversized, and overpriced, camera lenses the size of a Ford Focus, and weight just as much. I usually get an approving head nod or thumbs up when they see this camera strapped around my torso, bouncing on my hip.
Shooting on film is different from digital photography. There is no instant gratification. The only gratification is hearing the crisp click of the aperture capturing light. You have to line up your shot with film. You don't get to "Burst Mode" and snap a thousand photos in three seconds and then instantly review your work on a digital screen. You have to either get it right or don't. I try to keep a little journal and mental notes of lighting exposures to try to figure it all out. But, sometimes even when you mess up a setting or lighting, it still turns out great. I included some shots from our recent travels below and I love the way they turned out, even if some of them are a little dark.
-YourFriendMatt
