A covered bridge in Alabama – My Photo of the Year 2025

This year was a big deal for me as far as photography goes. My enjoyment of shooting with film was rekindled, thanks to winning a barely-functional camera in a contest. One roll of film in this almost broken camera was enough to inspire me to find a better camera, which eventually led to the photo posted above. This photo represents my photographic journey in 2025, as I’ve shifted focus from stressing over camera settings to creating photos I’m proud to share.

Near the end of 2024, I entered the Sh*tty Camera Challenge by purchasing a plain box whose contents held within a random old camera. Would the camera work? Who knows, as that uncertainty was what made the challenge tick. In my case, the plain box was packed with a Kodak Brownie Reflex Syncrho, manufactured sometime between 1942 and 1952. The camera was a bit beat-up after years of neglect: its folding hood wouldn’t fully close, largely because the viewfinder within was misaligned. Both lenses looked dirty and dusty, but at least they were intact. After cleaning off decades of debris and neglect, I started my hunt for film as there was no other way to really determine if this camera worked otherwise.

The Brownie Reflex Synchro takes an oddball 127 film format specifically designed by Kodak for its cameras. Not many retailers carry it, but B&H Photo came to the rescue with a roll of ReraPan 400. I received the film in early January 2025, watched tutorials on how to properly load it, then spent a couple days in January and February taking photos. For the first time since the summer of 2001, I was using a film camera again! Sure, it was an old camera made 70-80 years ago, and it was an unfamiliar-to-me TLR format, but it’s still shooting with film! It felt like no time at all had passed while shooting the 12 photos on film.

Whatever excitement I had while shooting with the Brownie dissipated thanks to the reality of the developed photos. Given the age and condition of the camera, I should have kept my excitement in check. The dirty lenses played a large factor in the blurry appearance of the photos, though the bigger problem was with framing subjects in the viewfinder. Anything I framed would appear to me both backwards and upside-down. I couldn’t get the hang of compensating for the viewfinder’s display, so most of my photos are off-kilter. I posted the two best photos on my Glass profile, both of which feature a chicken coop in the back of a senior care home. One photo has my wife looking at the chickens (hi Laura!).

Despite the results of the Kodak’s photos, I’m happy to have used it as it inspired me to find a legitimate film camera. I quickly dove into researching possible hardware options, which is how I discovered 35mmc. My goal was to find a fixed-lens 35mm rangefinder, as I wanted a “regular” film format to use in a durable camera body. I wanted one lens, as I didn’t want to get sidelined by lens mounts or additional gear acquisition. Eventually, research and positive reviews (including some on this site) led me to buy a Canon Canonet QL17 GIII in mid-May from a store in Osaka, which arrived 4 short days after ordering. The combination of a sharp lens, ease of film loading, bright viewfinder, and high production volume made this camera the right choice for me.

Since mid-May, I have taken the Canonet several places: an author signing in the Chicago suburbs; viewing the Bahá’í Temple in an adjoining suburb; hikes near St. Louis, both rural and suburban; seeing birds at a wildlife sanctuary near my house; seeing old classmates at my college; and on our first-ever road trip to Alabama in November. I have a best-of collection of my film photos on Glass, but the one I wish to highlight is the photo posted above of my wife about to cross the Kymulga Covered Bridge at a working grist mill in Childersburg, AL. For the technically-minded, this photo was taken at 1/30 second with f/8 aperture, with the film stock being Kodacolor 100. Focal length is always at 40mm with this Canon camera. There was no exposure compensation available here, as the Canonet doesn’t offer that feature. I have found its internal light meter tends to overexpose by about a stop, but sometimes that’s to my advantage.

As far as this photo goes, it’s both a great composition and a fantastic representation of my camera journey in 2025. The framing of the red maple leaves to parallel the slope of the covered bridge’s roof, the subsequent framing of the bridge’s internal lights within the gap of the maple’s branches, Laura’s slightly blurry movement, her color contrast with the leaves on the trees and ground, and the surprise appearance of the grist mill worker on his tractor at the bridge’s other end–all these elements are nice in and of themselves, but they work together to capture a scene of late autumn.

What I appreciate even more than the photo’s composition is what the photo represents for me in 2025. I have only been in possession of this Canon since mid-May, and I learned from scratch how to focus with a rangefinder. Many rolls of film, both color and black-and-white, were spent learning the intricacies of rangefinder focusing, and I made plenty of mistakes that won’t see the light of day. Compared to where I was at the beginning of the year, my comfort with using the Canon has progressed, but it wasn’t until seeing this photo did I begin to realize just how far I’ve traveled. My practice hasn’t made perfect (yet), but it has allowed me to concentrate more on taking photos with the Canon, with less worrying about ensuring the right settings are dialed in. The likelihood of me shooting a photo like this one in early summer would have been chalked up pure luck. Today, I can look at the photo with the recognition of knowing how far I’ve advanced since playing with the broken Kodak, which is why this is my favorite photo of the year. In not so many words, I’ve crossed over one bridge, with hopefully many more ahead of me on my photographic journey.

Thanks for reading.
You can find me on Glass and occasionally Instagram. My main texting social media is Mastodon.

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