Adventures in Black and White Photography

Before the pandemic, I was doing really great with my mirrorless panasonic camera when I spent time in Vietnam. However after returning to the US, the prospect of editing all of the thousands of gorgeous photos I took became so daunting that I dropped photography altogether. Those photos from Vietnam remain some of the proudest work I’ve ever made.

I was also probably uninspired and overwhelmed with life. That was a time of big adjustments and when the pandemic hit, the depression and uncertainty that came with it just put digital photography into its place in the back of my mind. There’s also an element of responsibility I need to take because time management is something I struggle with especially when its coupled with mental health issues. Digital photography is still something I haven’t fully gotten back into, but of course I’d like to.

Over a year ago, I bought myself a Pentax K1000 film camera to get myself back into photography. My thought process was that film photography has the potential to take the frustration out of editing, would force me to take a select amount of photos, would help me improve my photography skills overall, and has a quality to it that is so nostalgic and beautiful.

I was lucky that one of my closest friends, filmmaker Samantha Mitchell, had already dabbled in the medium and offered a helping hand in helping me operate the camera.

A year later and I signed up for a darkroom photography course at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). The course is barely a month long, but it teaches foundational skills in black-and-white film photography and how to process and develop film manually.

On the side, I also started experimenting with color film as well and I found it was a lot more challenging to get good images with the color film over black and white.

I love the feel of having a camera in my hands. The world is so much brighter and interesting when you’re noticing details that others may overlook. Life moves just a little bit closer, and you learn to appreciate the moments and stay present. The simple nature of film photography also helps me continue to develop my photography skills without the daunting task of editing.

I still want to get better at editing, and I haven’t stopped paying Adobe a monthly fee to have access to their software. It’s something I know I need to do, but until I find the confidence and time to get back into the digital photography world - my Pentax K100 will make do in the meantime.

The photos in this post were taken at the Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore, Maryland. The photos above were taken by me, Valeriya “Lera” Nakshun, of Samantha Mitchell. The photos below were taken of yours truly by Samantha Mitchell.