Micael Widell Newsletter #5: Analog August, Microsculpture, Samyang does it again! and more...
Captain's log
For me, August 2019 was all about dipping my toes in the big sea of analog photography for the first time. I bought a Mamiya M645 1000s medium format film camera, and began shooting and developing black and white. Later I also purchased a Holga 120 CFN toy camera (will probably make a video about it). As I am writing this, I have just finished developing my very first roll of color film (Portra 400).
Despite all the work and costs involved, I find myself unexpectedly enjoying film photography quite a bit. Not sure if I will still be doing it in a couple of months, but right now I just want to learn more and try even more films and cameras! If you want to rejuvenate your photography, and so far only did digital, I recommend you to watch my video on how to get started quickly, easily and cheaply with analog photography, and to try it yourself – if you find my video even the slightest inspiring. Even if you happen to find yourself not loving it, I promise you will learn something that might be useful in your digital photography!
Featured Photographer: Levon Biss
In my video about my favorite photo books purchased over the past year, I mention Levon Biss and his wonderful Microsculpture photos. Definitely something to look into and become inspired by if you like macro photography. The book can be found here.
My Best Shot of August
This photo of my son Max, taken with the Mamiya M645, Mamiya Sekor 80mm f/1.9 lens, and Tri-X film, and scanned in my home made ghetto scanner setup described in my video about film photography, is my personal favorite from this month. I like the wide spectrum of gray tones and the bokeh.
My Best Macro Shot of August
Okay, one more. Every year around this time, there is some kind of explosion of super-tiny micro snails in the forests around where I live (I guess they are just snail kids, but I might be wrong). There usually are a lot of them around after it has been raining for a few hours. I went out for a quick 50 minute photo walk and recorded my video about natural light macro photography when I caught this shot that I ended up very happy with. I love how the eyes are in perfect focus, looking at me, and the shadow that stretches over the leaf.
Question for my readers
Since I am currently exploring analog photography, I would also like to try 35mm film. So far I only did medium format 120-film. What affordable 35mm film cameras are out there? My wishlist includes compact format, low weight, low price, built in light meter, and a lens that is around 35-50mm and with a max aperture of around f/2. What camera would you recommend? Reply to this e-mail if you have a suggestion :)
Gear I am excited about
I am starting to feel like a broken record here, since I seem to be excited about Samyang lenses almost every month. But I really love how they are coming out with this new wide array of lightweight, affordable and optically well balanced mirrorless lenses (for example the 45mm f/1.8 which I already own). The latest lens in that lineup is the 18mm f/2.8 lens, and if it is good optically, I definitely want one. 18mm is very wide, but not so wide that the photo looks weird or overly distorted – a perfect landscape or night photography focal length if you want to really capture everything around you.
My Published Videos in August
In case you missed one or want to re-watch, I published these YouTube videos during August:
- Why I love the Laowa 60mm 2x Macro Lens
- How to get started quickly, easily and cheaply with analog photography
- 6 Inspiring Photo Books in 6 Minutes
- Tips for Natural Light Macro Photography (without flash)
Goodbye for now
Thank you for reading this far, and see you in a month! Feel free to follow me on YouTube, Instagram and 500px in the meantime. And also feel free to tell your friends about this newsletter, and to reply to it if you have feedback or comments :)
/Micael