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A Film Mama | Oregon family photographer

March 20, 2014

I’m Marla
Sprinkled throughout this journey are the little joys, moments of inspiration, and snippets of life that add color to our human experience. Join me as we embrace the beauty of imperfect perfection, the magic of a beautiful moment, and the endless possibilities of creativity.

By the end of 2012 I was feeling quite worn out from constant editing. It was a great thing to be busy enough to feel that way and I was grateful, but dreading and loathing the editing time of my job. I also realized that though I was taking pictures of my daughter, I was never editing them. They were sitting in RAW file prison on my hard drive–basically in long-term solitary confinement. In an effort to rectify that problem, I put a roll of film in my Canon AE-1 from 1981 and I made a commitment to photograph my personal life on film. For me, one of the wonderful aspects of film photography is that it causes me to be more selective in my choices and that once the film is developed and scanned, the images are mostly finished. My edits usually consist of a few seconds–rather than 15 minutes or more. Each roll features a small collection of wonderful moments that are ready and meaningful. Additionally, I love the look of film that thousands of photographers strive to recreate with their digital counterparts. The soft graininess, the colors, the depth and life that leaps forth from within. I am so happy I made that decision, and since then film has made it’s way into my professional work as well. Choosing film comes at a hard cost, which is kind of a lot. But one of the ways I help keep cost down is to use consumer film, often referred to as drugstore film. The main appeal to consumer film is the price point because it costs about half as much as pro film, but the color is still lovely and the life moments held within still capture my heart. These images are just random times with my daughter, all taken with either Kodak Gold 200 and a most of them self developed and scanned at home.

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Marla Cyree of Simply Splendid specializes in film photography in Portland, Oregon as a newborn, family, and wedding photographer.

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  1. Kristin says:

    GORGEOUS! I love each image, so completely in love with the color from Kodak Gold and the color you found! Your daughter is gorgeous. I have some expired Kodak Gold in my refrigerator and I’m so excited to try it!

  2. Such sweet imagery! Really made my heart happy 🙂 Totally need to hang with you in person, Marla!

  3. Love these Marla – so anxious for nicer weather too over here in new England!

  4. Jessica says:

    These are stunning!

  5. Jeanine Phelps says:

    on the floor. dead.
    from perfection overload….OH MY GAH….yes. just yes.

    i am in love.

  6. Chelsea says:

    Where do you find kodak gold here? I love your images! Mine never seem to turn out this beautiful. Do you mostly use your film outside?

  7. LOVED this post. I have been feeling the exact same way you were two years ago…so many raw files just sitting on my computer that I haven’t had the chance to even touch. your images are such an inspiration. so beautiful. and the colors are just gorgeous.

  8. RAW file prison! That is so perfectly said! Love these so much, I need to restock on Kodak Gold. Do you scan with a Pakon??

  9. Meghan Boyer says:

    oh my. love these. that second shot is awesome!

  10. These are so great! Your daughter is beautiful and I love that you photographed in full sun basically. The kite images are just superb!

  11. Katherine says:

    I keep coming back to these images. Really beautiful.

  12. Léa says:

    Marla, I love your work SO MUCH. the two duck feeding images are just wonderful. the kite images are have such pretty colors! your girl is beautiful.

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