Earlier this year, I purchased a seat to a Film Is Not Dead workshop with the infamous film photographer, Jonathan Canlas. Oddly enough, at the time, I had no clue who he was, what FIND was, or even how to load the medium format film camera I had just acquired, but for some reason my brain would not let me pass up this opportunity. I was overly nervous about the experience I was going to have as a nearly-complete film newbie; I mean, I haven’t shot film in years and even then it was sub-par at best. Figuring that I would iron out details and get my ducks in a row in the months leading up to the 3 day workshop, I signed up regardless of my knowledge base and comfort level. Then, as if out of nowhere, the summer was over and I was scrounging for packing my film gear and heading out to dinner to meet the other film enthusiasts with whom I’d be living with for the following 3 days and 3 nights.

To say it was a life changing experience would be cliche and also repetitive of what every other workshop participant has ever said about the workshop. 😉 But…its true. Not only was Jon ridiculously informative and answered every single question that any of us had, but he was over the top patient and super nice. And funny. And laughed. Alot.

The best part of the entire experience, for me, was tri-fold. This marks the fifth workshop I’ve participated in and the only one where everyone lived together during the duration of the experience. And that was beyond awesome. Being able to talk shop after class had ended, laughing and joking around together, playing with different cameras and lighting situations; watching others interact and learn. Plus, having access to Jon and picking his brain at all hours of the day was a clear bonus. Along with getting to know my fellow film friends, I also enjoyed being able to see how they worked. I’ve done one-on-one workshops and have decided that I much prefer connecting with my workshop-mates in hopes of bouncing ideas and learning together. Plus, it’s fun to meet new people.

Above all, though, I think my favorite part of this particular workshop was the instructor himself. Opening his books, his life lessons, his family stories, trials and tribulations…I could listen to Jon talk about life and film always. His heart is bigger than his love for film and he wears everything on his sleeve, right there in broad daylight. His straight-up, no nonsense critique of my work inspired the newer, cleaner layout of this blog {and the removal of watermarks from my images} as well as a new vision for my own work thus far. Among many other points that I will continue to work on {ugh, I love/hate critiques!}. It was refreshing to talk to a professional who stressed the importance of making a living while holding your family/home life above all else. It’s hard for me to put into words, but what Jon taught us went far beyond business sense, f-stops and intentional shooting…

I don’t plan on integrating film into my business {just yet, anyway!}, but rather using it to document my personal life as well as dig into some personal projects. In turn, I hope the knowledge and patience I acquire while working with film will overlap into my digital world and compliment my never-ending search for my voice in photography.

Here are a few images from my time together with Jon. Straight out of camera, no editing. I still have some undeveloped rolls from the workshop, which I just happened upon a couple days ago as I loathe unpacking, so expect a part two post in the coming months…therefore, I’m missing half of days 1 and 2 and all of our personal work from day 3.

I’m open to critique here {be nice!}, so don’t be shy!!

All shot with
35mm Minolta XG-M and a Mamiya 645
varying films {experimenting!!}
all developed and scanned by the FIND lab

Day One
timed group shoot of couples at our awesome house

Day 2
Families and Touching Strangers

{Touching Strangers is inspired by street photographer Richard Renaldi. In an effort to get out of our comfort zones, we were encouraged to find strangers and pose them together as if they knew each other. So…none of the people featured below knew each other. At. All.}

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