Autumn is my favorite season and one of its many charms is the brief couple of weeks where the leaves shift to brilliant golden colors. Unfortunately this is also one of the busiest times of the year for me, so I often completely miss out on going shooting until the branches are mostly bare. This year I was determined to get out as much as possible to enjoy and photograph some Fall foliage.
My name is Tommaso Avati and I am a fiction writer (novels and screenplays sometimes). Writing is my life, I really enjoy it and there is nothing comparable to the pleasure that gives to you composing a nice and well constructed story. Photography though is my hobby, what I do when I want to “unplug” my mind from work. And it is curious how both activities are somehow similar. Both need composition, both require a watchful and concentrated eye, both (in most cases) have to do with human beings. Similarities may go on maybe, but what I am really interested in here is telling you how I got into film photography.
First time for everything. Months ago a box arrived from Analogue Wonderland. Inside said box were a number of films. One of which was a 36 exposure roll of Kodak Portra 800.
I had never shot it before and had no idea what to expect. I used the hashtag in Flickr and Instagram and saw a lot of low light portraits illuminated with some street lighting or neon lit windows for background.
I love taking long-time exposures, so I wanted to dedicate an article to this topic. But how to begin? I sat down and racked my brain. Tell you what’s so special about night photography? Mention the difficulties, explain the challenges? Try to give technical advice? Talk about the influence of the weather? Well… In the past, I already discussed these issues in my article about night photography on CineStill film. Better not to repeat all of this. Eventually I decided, I would venture a different approach this time. So I went spelunking my Lightroom catalogue and chose 18+1 frames I wanted to present. The oldest image dates back to 2016, the newest one is from early spring this year. You are now going to read a short story on each photograph.
When it comes to choosing film I am not the most adventurous person, I tend to stick to Kodak Ektar and Portra 400 with the occasional Velvia. Last year I decided to try Portra 800, and I fell in love.
