Mac Sokulski | MiKS Media Photography

Vacations with old film cameras – part 1

by Mac Sokulski | Oct 20, 2017 | Families, Landscape, Nature, People

Taking old film cameras on vacation, deciding to take images only with those can be a little risky. Specially when you never shot with a camera before. A great friend of mine, came all the way from New York, and brought me a Minolta X570, with a very nice 50mm f1.4 lens. I never shot with that camera before, and neither did he. We didn’t know that it would develop a strange light leak, that would run in different places on almost every image. Practically ruining every shot I took with that camera. Good thing I had my medium format TLR Minolta Autocord.

I knew from the start that this is not going to be a photo trip, as we had family and friends visiting with limited time to show them around our favorite places, and friends and family were my main concern with photography. I was hoping that I was able to catch a few good images, I mean you cannot take a bad picture while in the Alberta Rocky Mountains.

It’s a lot of different experience shooting with film cameras. There is no way of telling that the shot you envisioned is done properly. You have to trust your knowledge that all is good. Then it teaches you discipline. You are limited to 36 on 35mm, but only 12 on 6×6 medium format. So each image has to be the image you want to create. It’s not easy, but it’s a part of learning. Really, who wants to sit at their computer and go through thousands of photos and pick only a handful, when you can take just a handful of great photos.

Enjoy!

We all need a break

by Mac Sokulski | Sep 29, 2017 | Film, People, Urban

Sometimes we all need a break. Since I started shooting exclusively with film cameras at the start of this year, I was focusing on what I usually do, landscape and nature. I found that limitations of film and old cameras, self developing and scanning, forced me to look at the world differently. Every image requires more thought, more “seeing”, as my friend Olaf Sztaba would say. So it I was very grateful when another good friend Mark Reierson setup a meeting to photograph people in Calgary.

Early day, fairly long drive, made short by audio books, and a bit a screw-up with models and make up artists, made for a very interesting day. Whole day was spent wandering the streets of Calgary, and just making photographs. Slow and deliberate. Trying hard to create something interesting, to visualize something interesting.

I find that using film made me realize how important each frame, each photograph is. Everything becomes more focused, more deliberate. It’s quite refreshing. Hope you enjoy these images.

Fading Light: The Film Adventures

by Mac Sokulski | Sep 8, 2017 | Film, Landscape, Nature

As the film adventure progresses, I find myself more accepting and creating images that I would usually not create. I’m talking about the fact that film has a set speed. I cannot increase the ISO because the conditions require me to. I’m dependent on the film that is inside the camera. I’ve learned that having ISO 100 film in the camera is great for normal daylight photography, but during sunset, or right after the light fades rather quickly, and the ISO 100 is not sensitive enough, and it definitely requires a tripod, or very steady hands. As some of these images show, I had neither.

This is the time where mind goes into an experimentation mode. What makes this a little more challenging is the fact that on a film camera you cannot preview images, and see if your experiment worked. You just have to trust your instincts. I was hoping that, the images I experimented with would work, and they did. After developing the film (that process is getting easier and more of routine with every roll), I was very happy to discover that the images came out the way I intended.

Shooting with film on old cameras, has it set of challenges. I think that overcoming those challenges, makes you a stronger, better photographer. You have a different set of decisions to be had before leaving. You have a different set of questions to ask yourself, while on location. A set of challenges that cannot be solved with your camera. For now the Big Film Adventure continues. Enjoy!

Taste of Edmonton 2017 the Film Story

by Mac Sokulski | Jul 25, 2017 | Film, People, Urban

As Kasia was saying in the previous post about Taste of Edmonton and street photography. We both not street photographers at all. Even though Kasia, still thinks I’m better at it, I would like to disagree with that statement. Real street photographers like Antonio Rosario from Switch 2 Manual, or Olaf Sztaba , are definitely someone to emulate, but me and Kasia are just opportunistic photographers.

We had a chance to attend the annual Taste of Edmonton. Its a gathering of restaurants where you can purchase bite size dishes. As always it’s always full of people, so one would think a perfect time to practice street photography, which is a foreign to me as the surface of the moon. Still having excellent photos of Antonio, and Olaf, and my good friend Mark in mind, I loaded the little Minolta Autocord with some film and went in search of images. Since most of street photography I have seen is in black and white, I thought I would be presumptuous, and add a little color to it.

The whole experience left me nervous, and afraid. Good thing the little medium format, twin reflex camera, from the late 50’s was an ice breaker. People would, if not stare openly, actually ask about it. This resulted in conversations, but not a lot of images, unfortunately. Still I tried my best to emulate, and “see” like all my friends mentioned above, would. Well I tried, and here are some results from that little outing.

The color film was Kodak Portra 160, and the black and white is the Kodak Tri-X 400.

Enjoy!

Chasing Bison with an old Russian

by Mac Sokulski | Jul 18, 2017 | Art, Film, Landscape, Nature

It’s funny, how I almost cured myself of digital GAS, and how quickly I fell for the analogue GAS. It’s really easy to forget about actual photography, when scouring eBay for old cameras. The amount of old film cameras is just staggering. The prices are decent for the most part, although so old cameras fall into the “collectible” or “famous” category, which drives their prices through the roof. I try to keep to the cheap side. This also has it’s pitfalls, specially when it comes to lenses. I learned the hard way, that Vivitar lenses, although some can be had for real cheap, in great condition, are usually absolute shit. Having an Olympus and Minolta systems, it’s best to stay within the manufactures lenses. They maybe a bit more expensive, but they are worth it. This brings me to a absolute star. The Kiev 6C. After it came back from repairs to correct the film spacing issue (which I mentioned before in another post.) I took it out for more fun. This time I paired the medium format with a 35mm Olympus.

Creating images with film is both frustrating, and freeing. Knowing that there is a limited number of frames available in the camera, I have to be absolutely sure that the image I want to capture is THE image I want to capture. Gone are the days of snapping willy nilly just because something looked somewhat interesting. Now it’s all focus focus focus, wait wait wait, and decide not the press the shutter.

I find it really hard to switch my mindset of digital photography, to film. Not only I cannot preview the images, I have to make sure I know which film I’m using so I can adjust the way it’s being exposed. Each film has it’s own characteristics, which I have to take into account while creating an image. We take that for granted in the digital world. We forget that there is no AutoISO, that if exposure is not right, we can quickly adjust and shoot again. We all worry about digital noise…. let me tell you, go shoot Agfa Vista 400, and I promise, you will not care about digital noise anymore.

Yes, this film adventure is frustrating at times. Full of dust and pet hairs which appear out of nowhere when scanning images. Fingerprints, bent film stock, development temperatures, and at times like these I really want to dump everything and go back to my favorite little Fuji camera. Is it making me a better photographer? I honestly don’t know. I think it’s making me a more careful photographer.

Here are some images from the Bison trip to Elk Island one glorious evening. Enjoy!