Practice seems like the way to get better at activities, so I thought I’d apply that thinking to film photography. I would quickly get bored with practicing if I was just taking pictures of things around my neighborhood, so I have given myself little projects to get out and shoot. As an added bonus these projects help me shake of the COVID blues, get out of the house, and visit local places which I may never have visited. My first assignment was making interesting images at our local parks.
There are a lot of parks in Summit County Ohio, which would be surprising if you knew how densely populated the area once was. Taking pictures at parks requires little planning, just turn up, find something interesting, and take the photos. Another benefit of taking photos at parks in Summit County is that most lack obvious photographic vistas. So, locations must be scouted, which requires a lot of walking around and paying attention to nature.
The first goal with these projects is to get better at finding good compositions, the second is to get better at using the Bronica EC-II I am so fond of. I need to work on nailing exposure and focus on the completely manual medium format camera. I am focusing on good images out of camera, so I am not worried about editing right now. And, I am far from accomplishing my goals, but these images represent a tiny bit of progress. Click the photos to see enlargements.
