When people think about night or low light film photography, I imagine they picture SLRs, TLRs, or large-format cameras, tripods, cable releases, and oh yes, a light meter. That’s all well and good. But sometimes you want to do a low light shot and you’re out and about without fancy gear–you just have your humble pocket camera with you. Can you get a decent low light photo with just that?
I was introduced to analog photography last Christmas with a Polaroid One Step camera and a handwritten note saying something like “this is another attempt to see the world through your eyes”. Besides loving taking polaroids of small details mainly from seaside locations, I knew I had to find a more powerful way to convey my feelings through pictures. It is always a matter of how sincerely and truly I am able to tell the world about my soul even without shedding too many words. The person behind the handwritten note knew that too, and as soon as another occasion appeared – my birthday, an oddly grey and rainy day of May – I was gifted a precious 35mm camera: a shimmering, perfectly preserved Olympus XA2, older than me.
We’ve all heard stories of free cameras, the one found at the back of the closet and salvaged from neglect. It makes sense. At one point almost every family had a low-end 35mm point-and-shoot, if not a couple, and many families had an SLR or something similar. Given that cameras were so common for so long it only makes sense that there would be a few forgotten somewhere, especially after budget photography made such a hard swerve into digital. Maybe, I thought one afternoon, there’s room in my life for an adopted camera.
This is a bit different from the usual #fullrollfriday because I shot this roll of film, had no idea what to do with it, and ended up using it to make a video. Let’s start with that, then I’ll explain how it came about. (The video runs for four minutes)
The Olympus XA2 has, for decades, been a popular small 35mm film compact you can carry around in your pocket. An excellent piece of design, it’s simple to operate with zone focusing and a respected f/3.5 35mm fixed lens. Having shot many photos with one, I looked for an inexpensive digital equivalent with the same convenient body size and the largest sensor possible.
