Olivia, on three cameras.
A few weeks ago, I collaborated with new talent, Olivia Gleeson, on a test shoot. We got out to Folly Beach early one morning and made these photos.
I brought three cameras with me purely for the sake of wanting to play around with each, and test which images I liked best.
It’d been a while since I’d used my digital camera for personal work, and I wanted to see what it felt like shooting + editing JPEG (instead of RAW).
I had some 120mm Kodak Gold 200 kicking around, which seemed like the perfect reason to bring out the Pentax 645. And I’ve been really enjoying the Kodak Ektar H35N that Chris and I bought for travels a few months ago. So I brought that along with some 50D cinema film loaded inside as well.
I always forget how freeing test shoots can be, and every time leave thinking, “I’ve got to do this more often.” The ability to approach an assignment with extremely low stakes, and try new techniques is so important to the creative practice!
It’s rare to see three very distinct looks applied to the same subject in the same setting, so I’m excited to share the results. I’d also be curious to know which images you prefer or feel like capture the scene the best way…?
I’ll give you my favorites at the end of the post.
Take a look!
Camera 1 - Canon R5 body with 50mm Canon 1.4 lens (digital camera body with an analog lens + URTH adapter).
Camera 2 - Pentax 645 with 75mm 2.8 lens. Film stock: Kodak Gold 200 aka “summerfilm.”
Camera 3 - Kodak Ektar H35N half frame camera (I wrote about this one on Substack here) loaded with 50D cinema film from Charleston Film Lab.
Surprise. I love the last set! I feel like it tells a story, whereas the first two sets feel like “model pictures.”
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Kodak Gold 120mm film, but something about the ease and frivolity of shooting with the Kodak Ektar H35N measured up to the playful silliness of being out at the beach that day.
Thoughts? Thanks for being here!
