My Best Friend Ross – A Short Photo Story – By Jarrod Sams

Every child has a best friend growing up. Every child has a favorite toy that they cherish.  Sharing fun moments together and are seldom separated. They explore and enjoy adventures. What about their favorite thing in life being personified as their best friend?  This is the inspiration on a short photo essay I call “My Friend Ross”.

This is Ross. A simple fellow. No frills. We go everywhere together.

We play together. Enjoying the summer sun.

Ross helps me practice basketball and shows me new tricks.

We get all dusty on the field as I practice my throw.

And we relax in the shade after a fun filled day.

The images above were captured on Ilford FP4+ 35mm film using a Minolta Maxxum 9xi and a Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens. Why this gear? Honestly I had no specific reason other than that I wanted to do this project on black & white film. I owned DSLRs at the time and could have easily used those and converted to monochrome or used a film simulator. I could have captured and processed images much quicker that way, but instead I opted for the process and authenticity of using film. It also gave me a reason to try a new film and a new-to-me camera at the time (more on that another time).

I have only used FP4+ this and one other time.  My initial impressions were that the images were sharp, but seem a little flat compared to what I was used to seeing from films like HP5+, PanF+, and Kodak T-Max. All of these images were taken on a bright summer’s day and I thought the contrast would be much higher. After some time examining the images, I’ve come to appreciate this.  It lends to that classic feel and adds an air of remembering fond memories.

Thank you for reading.  Please check out more of my work at the links below.  Until next time.

Jarrod Sams

Instagram @jrodsams

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