Film swap expectations
As you might know, back in August, Susanne and myself started a global film swap - 28 people from different countries and continents. Some of the participants have done a film swap before and were familiar with the procedures, but most of them never done it and agreed to take part anyway.
We tried to explain and make people understand that this project is an experiment with surprises along the way. We are not aiming for perfection, it is not possible and everybody should be ok with that. The expectations of taking part in such an experiment are to have fun, to embrace surprises and to learn.
Regarding exposure of the films, my part is done: I’ve completed the two rolls, I’ve developed and scanned the second roll and now I would like to present some of the results in order to help people understand.
Not everything will be perfect, don’t worry, it is just an experiment. The bellow photo is the example. One image has the written words “milk shakes” (which, by the way, are divine) and as a subject perfectly matches the words of an open book. Yes, there is a connection but that connection is not enough - the final image doesn’t work. It is not aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t speak to me in any way. But that’s ok, it’s part of the experiment.
On the other hand, the following image is more appealing: I like the combination of chain + padlock with flower and plants as a background. The visual contrast of a chain (supressing liberties) with flowers and plants (freedom) works very well. At a closer look we can see that the gate with chain was shot in landscape orientation and the flowers and plants were in portrait mode but the overall result is working.
This should be the expectations of any film swap: some things works, some don’t and that is ok. Once you’ll see the results - the images that work - the surprise and the hapiness will definitely surpass the small disappointments, leaving you with joy of taking part in such an experiment. I encourage any film shooter to do an film swap at least once. All the best to all the participants and stay tuned, the results will be published in December.
I think the unexpectedness is the beauty in these experiments. Keep playing!
Same progress the first roll I sent to my partner who is finishing up, and I was able to shoot part two of roll two in a week. Sent to the lab and just received the scans. We actually lined up frames and results are mixed, some work and some too busy, I think we were one off on the shooting order by one. Does that matter? No way! The randomness of this effort fits right in with the somewhat unpredictable nature of analog photography. I would do this over and over again!