A Film Mama | Oregon family photographer

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.

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