Vintage Visions - Shaking Things Up With A CCD Digicam
Plus a little hint at what's to come on Hi8 + 35mm Film
Hey Film Fam, welcome back!
How have you been tracking these last few weeks?
Christmas is rapidly approaching and I find myself stressing over what little time I have to sneak some photoshoot concepts in before the end of the year! I always know I’m under the pump around this time but still somehow it surprises me just how full on it is.
I’ve got a whole load of work to do so this fortnight's FREE newsletter will be a little less full on than usual and won’t have many photos as I’ve just not had any time at all to sit down and edit anything new to show you.
As always these newsletters will still have the vibe of catching up with that one friend you haven’t seen in a while who’s just very passionate about all things film. So if that’s your kind of jam, you’re in the right place!
Let’s get into it!
For The Girls - Charity Car Meet
Last Saturday I had the absolute pleasure of being invited as Media for an incredible Charity Car Meet hosted by For The Girls at Club Menangle Trackside. I met one of my good friends Mel at last year’s FTG October meet, and since then I’ve loved hanging out with a super supportive and fun group that encourages people to come together to mingle and overall have a regular meet up with a chance to make cool content with cars.
I’ve really enjoyed attending car events lately regardless if I’m working or just a spectator. I’m a car girlie through and through, and even though my passions lie in the camping and off-roading side of things - I still adore and deeply appreciate the car scene. So I’m always keen to attend events like this, meet new people and get a chance to (respectfully) drool over some of the absolutely bloody stunning cars on display!
For The Girls founder Monica is an absolute sweetheart (and a photographer herself too!) who also adores 35mm Film, especially when cars are shot on it - so she was keen to have me there and even made sure I got some really great shots of specific setups she organized before the crowd arrived.
I had with me a Ricoh KR-10 Super with a 28mm f/2.8 + cross screen filter - which you will know by now is my go-to setup for all of my major car photography projects. My second camera is a Ricoh Singlex TLS with a 50mm F/2 + various filters. I played around with my 25x Multi-Image filter again, and a bunch of other goodies I had on me including some brand new film I’ve never shot before. I was on my own with no assistance this time so I had to pack super light - something I’m truly not used to doing.
[For a more in depth breakdown of my gear, how I shoot car events, and why I choose Cinefilm for them, you can head over to this previous Substack which has all the info!]
I was blown away by the variety of cars, had so many lovely interactions with car owners, and got so many chances to catch some candid’s of the crowd and overall chill atmosphere. I had a wonderful time (even though I got sunburnt too oops) and blazed through 5 rolls of film in 2 hours! I’m really bloody excited to develop the rolls, and cannot wait to show you some of the shots I know are going to be absolute bangers.
Video on CCD Digicam
I’ve had a little silver Olympus digicam for a few years that was given to me by my best friend Julia and had only used it a handful of times - more recently breaking it out for its “HD Movie” mode, which has some classic early 2010’s low res vibes to it. I used it a year ago at the first FTG event I attended but didn’t really shoot much on it, and more so pulled it out for personal road trips and vacations when I didn’t want to fill up my phone with photos or shoot film.
It’s a great little camera, super fast and responsive, really simple and straightforward to use. There is kind of a manual mode but I find it really hit or miss, while the ‘intelligent auto’ seems to be the best use for it in most scenarios. Photos come out relatively clear and it’ll decide if fill flash is needed or not (but you can also completely turn this option off).
I found out at the event that it produces some wicked pink lens flares when direct sunlight bounces off chrome! I really like the way it ended up looking.
I shared the videos in this Instagram post, so go ahead and check that out. I’ll have some reels and more videos going up soon as well once I get the film dev sorted and have the final gallery ready to deliver.
Transitioning to Analog Video - Hi8
My dad has a Sharp Viewcam which still works and I remember him always recording family videos on it when I was a kid. I thought it was (and still do) the coolest damn camera to exist.
Recently I pulled it out and brought it back to life, although it has no battery so it can’t be used as a portable camcorder anymore. It does however have the AC adapter which is handy and as long as it’s plugged in with constant power, and it can be used to both record video, take photos, edit on the fly, and of course watch the tapes. It’s got a wonderful clear touch screen, and also has a selfie mode which can be used to record vlogs!
It’ll become the playback camera that links in with the capture card and digital software for conversion with my PC - and occasional studio use as well.
I still really wanted a portable Hi8 Camcorder, so I spent a few months lurking on the internet until I found one! It does work, but I’m not quite ready to reveal which one I went for. It’s more of a ‘professional’ level camcorder with so many bells and whistles it’s going to be a steep learning curve for me. There are a few small problems though… (which I hope to solve by the next newsletter)
As you can imagine now that the world has moved onto ‘fancy schmancy mirrorless 4K s-log creamy dreamy goodness bang-for-your-buck cinematic masterpiece cameras’ - there’s not a lot of spare parts for older analog Hi8 Camcorders, (let alone there being many that still work) and brand new cassette tapes are becoming more expensive and difficult to find. Despite this, I just can’t seem to let it go and “move on” to join the new age digital world for videography.
I got really lucky with the model I chose as brands like Sony still make batteries for a variety of camcorders thankfully - yet it’s been a bigger challenge to track down a decent adapter and charger. It’s mostly luck of the draw, seeing if these secondhand parts are even available and waiting weeks and weeks on end for them to arrive to then test and keep fingers crossed they even work.
I was smart and ordered a new cassette tape about 6 months ago when I unearthed my dad’s old one, but I’m going to need to keep my eye out for more because there’s only so many times you can re-use and re-record them before they degrade.
Yes, I could have gotten a newer camcorder, perhaps even a second hand DSLR with at least 1080p recording, or sucked it up and dished out 5k for a decent mirrorless setup (one day!) - but when have I ever made anything easy for myself? I always love a challenge, and I especially love to try to revive old cameras and chase a specific aesthetic with my work - which is very much inspired more and more by the 80’s and 90’s experimental lens filters and bold colour work that I ironically used to dislike so much just a few years ago.
I’m really excited to start working on a bunch of cool projects once the final pieces for it come together, and I promise all will be revealed once it’s up and running!
Plenty of goodies to come!
This newsletter hasn’t had any new 35mm Film shots as I have heaps of film to develop and as always I have to wait until I have a minimum amount of rolls to make the most of my C-41 chemicals.
It’s kind of standard now though. I have a few months of good consistent content, and then a small 2-3 week break where I get stuck into the really laborious part getting my hands dirty again before I have plenty of new film to drip feed while I shoot more and compile the next lot for dev. I really appreciate everyone’s patience with it all, it’s worth the wait I promise!
Film Dev
- 15 Rolls of film are ready for development this coming week! 5x from For The Girls, a handful from my trip to Wisemans Ferry, a few totally random rolls I can’t remember what I shot on oops. And then of course my upcoming shoots over the next week will be thrown into the mix.
- Half are Cinefilm which means it takes a bit longer with remjet removal and whatnot, so it’ll be split up over 2 days that way I don’t totally wreck my body trying to get it all done in one go like I usually do.
Upcoming Photoshoots
- Misa + Mel part 2
I’ll be travelling down the South Coast to create a very specific vibe with my gorgeous friend Mel and her WRX lovingly named Misa. We previously did a photoshoot in a multi-level carpark combining both ambient and Gel/RGB lighting. This time we’re doing some moody night time shots (assuming it doesn’t rain on us) - and I may even whip out my fancy big beasty flash for it. There may even be a sneaky cameo with Scorpion at some point too…
This one will be featured in an in-depth newsletter where I’ll take you through absolutely everything from start to finish, from the first spark of inspiration, all the way to the final results.
- Self Portraits
I’ve had another self portrait planned for a while now but haven’t had the chance to set up for it. But I’m determined to do so before I scan film as that’ll take up all the free space I have available. I can’t give away the concept, but it’s going to be very very green and a studio style shoot on Cinefilm!
Studio Workshops
- Light Projection + Vibes - I’m attending Clyde’s studio workshop where I’ll get a chance to play around with using projectors to create dramatic lighting for portraits. If my Hi8 camcorder is ready in time for this, I’ll be recording some video too, otherwise it’ll be strictly 35mm Film, and potentially just Cinefilm this time!
There’s still some tickets left so if you’re in the Sydney area and would like to learn some cool lighting techniques, plus create content for your portfolio - head over to this link and sign up. (P.S. You don’t have to be a Sony shooter or even a digital photographer to attend, it’s open for anyone!)35mm Film Workshops, Mentorships + Education
- I’m working on my next 35mm Film Workshop - looking at probably a late January or mid February date for that. I’ve been busy sourcing film and creating amazing resources for workshop attendees, hehe!
- I’m planning a few networking/content events as well, and of course getting ready to officially launch my various offers I’ve been working super super hard on behind the scenes. So keep your peepers out for that.Photoshoot Bookings - 2024
- I’m taking on just a small handful of projects/photoshoots per month in 2024, with it entirely depending on how my spine is doing when they pop up (It’s a slow recovery process!) and how big the project is of course.
- Events are full on and take a lot of energy, and a lot of Fibro recovery afterwards so I can’t do every single car scene event that’s on next year and have to be super selective with which ones I attend, so I’ll be encouraging event organizers to get in ahead of time before my schedule gets booked up.
- Potentially branching out into another genre/style of photography - more on this soon! I’m not promising anything yet, and I have a few people who want to be the first on my list of clients if I test the waters… and if you know you know lol. Again it entirely depends on a handful of factors that I’m waiting to fall into place before I confirm anything.
I would also need to get 2 x mechanical cameras serviced professionally before I even dare to venture into this, and that process alone can take 8-10 weeks and is super expensive - So it won’t be an early 2024 thing, but if it happens, it’ll be like mid to late 2024.
Non-Photography related things I’m doing:
Sketching and Embracing Imperfection
I’ve recently found this amazing artist who’s content has helped me break through the though that any art project I work on had to be perfect, and instead I’m enjoying a chaotic scribbly style where you’re supposed to just let it be free flowing rather than precise and restrictive.
I’ve been having a lot of fun diving back into quick little sketches and a light watercolour wash, and hope in time I’ll find the creativity and drive again to paint like I used to.Poetry + Writing Practices
I’m working on the beginnings of a Memoir and taking more Poetry classes. I’ve also considered potentially putting 35mm Film to the side for a short period of time (I bet you weren’t expecting that!) and focus on a 6 month short degree in creative writing.
If I don’t go down that route, then I’m looking at applying to various shorter courses, in person workshops, and just generally getting back in the Performance Poetry scene like I used to be while also juggling the 35mm Film stuff that I do.
I’m still trying to get back into regular journaling. I get easily overwhelmed by it but once I start I’m fine, so I’m still figuring that out, but it’s been nice to have that ‘me time’ again each day.Being present!
I’m working on intentionally taking life really fucking slowly and as it comes rather than trying to control and rush everything. I’m still learning the best way to cultivate joy for myself, and it’s a slow process. But I’ve started finding it in plenty of places, like catching up with old friends and going on fun adventures.
I recently caught up with my dear friend Cherry who I hadn’t seen in 8 years! Life kind of gets in the way, but honestly we’re the same as always despite so much time passing and I loved catching up with her. I’m excited to see her again before she moves onto her next little adventure.
I’m making it my mission to visit friends and travel all over Australia if I damn well have to over the next year, because it’s so rejuvenating to be around people I cherish and love so deeply - and I miss hugging my friends and actually hanging out in person!
Resting
And not that pseudo bullshit kind with vague Instagram inspired self care, but actually learning to rest and take it easy without feeling guilt for not being productive 24/7. I’ve been reading a lot of fellow Substack writers experiences with the struggles of perfectionism and having to be “on” all the time, and it’s really interesting (yet also heartbreaking) to see so many of my peers in the same space.
I legit wish we could all get together and have a big old slumber party and just, chill the fuck out for a week! I know I sure as hell need a little vacation, how about you?
Till the next one!
I hope you’re taking it easy as we head deeper into silly season and everything becomes a time crunch. Remember to take time for yourself, and not to get totally stuck in a box of existing only for your profession/hobby - have some fun and shake it up too!
I’m super excited to be bringing you some kickass portraits and car photos on 35mm Film, and you’ll be the first to know how my Hi8 video adventures go as well - keep your fingers crossed for me that I’ll find the final pieces I need to make it all happen.
Thanks as always for popping by, I hope you have a great week ahead - Happy Friday! See you again really soon.
Until the next roll, take care!
xoxo, Josie