Other than randomly planting a cacao tree next to hibiscus shrubs on his front yard, one of my grandfather's hobbies was including taking pictures with his camera, developed the filmstrip, and put tons of pictures on albums. Each of his children had their own photo albums, including his first granddaughter—me. It was unfortunate the album he made for me was ruined in a flood years ago at our old home, even though I got to save a few pictures from the disaster. I was really devastated, because the albums he made were not just albums—he didn't just put up the photos, he would cut out pieces from magazines and created something sort of like a scrapbook on it. It's kind of sad that none of my family members inherited my grandfather's particular interest in photography. Since he passed away 16 years ago, nobody create a photo album anymore (and not to mention that people nowadays don't print out their pictures anymore..). The camera he used also has stopped functioning when I found it at my grandparents' attic years ago.
There is something with analog cameras that attracts me. The grainy pictures, the sound the camera makes when you press the shutter button, the results, the slightly burned pictures, everything. When I was younger, I was obsessed with lomo cameras. It was the year when lomo cameras got its hype, but I never actually owned one. All I could do was scrolling down my Tumblr homepage staring at beautiful pictures taken with Diana, Actionsampler, La Sardina, and other popular lomo cameras. Then for a few years later, my obsession faded away along with the invention of high quality phone's cameras and the editing apps that came with it—at least that's what I thought. I was wrong, of course, because I still have that huge interest in analog camera that suddenly sparked up all over again when I stumbled on a YouTube channel called Negative Feedback. One video after another, I decided to look for a cheap analog camera while blaming myself for becoming so indecisive when I found a shelf full of used analog cameras at one of the stores in Old Market, Omaha.
I actually decided to get myself a Fuji MDL-5, because I found it only for $12 online and I didn't feel like getting something as fancy as Pentax or Minolta for a starter. I also didn't want to get a disposable camera despite of all the hype. Three days after I checked out my (online) cart, the seller told me that the Fuji MDL-5 was taken by another buyer and they offered me the MDL-9 one instead with an additional $2. I was about to transfer them the couple bucks when they called me up again to tell me the MDL-9 was also taken by somebody else. As an apology, they offered me Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 120 ED with no additional payment. I was disappointed at first, because visually, Nikon Lite Touch didn't look "old enough" for my taste. It kind of looks like a digital pocket camera.
Since it is a used camera (and I don't know for how long the previous owner had it), it didn't come in a perfect condition. The zoom lens didn't work anymore, but the rest of it still functioning pretty well. Even though analog photography is deemed to exist, it seems like the trend didn't make it to the city where I live. I couldn't find any film rolls, and I had to get them online. I got Kodak ColorPlus 200 and Fujicolor C200. I brought the camera with me everywhere as I slowly shoot all 36 frames of the roll. It turned out that it took me a good two months to spend all the frames in one roll. I was nervous every time I hit the shutter button—"will this one come out good?" "did I cover the lens with my finger?" "am I doing this right?"—I completely forgot the idea of shooting with analog. You should not think—you just point and shoot.
It was also a heck of journey to get the film roll developed. Remember that nobody sells any film rolls anymore? Yes. It also means no labs to develop the roll. I had to send my filmstrip to Hipercat Lab in Bandung to get it developed. It took a little over a week until I got the result. Though my grandfather might be disappointed with this, but I decided to get my pictures in a digital form. The result wasn't that bad! A few of them are out of focus, but overall I'm so happy with it. I became obsessed with the feeling of getting the filmstrip developed. I definitely won't stop shooting in film.
Here are my favorites:
All of them taken in Kodak ColorPlus 200. The result wasn't disappointing at all. I even joined an analog photo competition with one of the pictures. I didn't win, but the fact that I joined a photography competition itself is still quite unbelievable. The whole experience gave me a feeling that quite addictive—both the feeling when I took the pictures, and when I waited for the result to be arrived. Isn't it quite fascinating what a filmstrip could do?
