On Film, Part 3: The Frames that made my bones

Can anyone out there in the film photography world recall the specific frames that made them fall in love with a particular film stock or film in general? Up until June 2013, I mostly stuck to B&W and only dabbled in color film. If I shot color, it was most likely FujiChrome but E6 was becoming harder and more expensive to have processed in my city, so I just kind of abandoned color all together.

Then a friend sent me a text from the DC Pride Parade telling me to get down there to grab some frames. I thought "Pride" "Parade" "Reveling" - COLOR. So I dug through the freezer and found two rolls of extremely expired Kodak Gold 200 and hit the streets. I arrived right at the onset of golden hour and ripped through the two 24 frame rolls in no time, completely oblivious to the rules and strategies of overexposing expired color negative film. But I didn't care, this was just a fun trip through the final few blocks of the parade:

The results from the lab were hit or miss, with the hits being a huge whiff (WAY underexposed) but the hits, well..these two frames featured above rang my head like a gong and woke me up to the incredible qualities of color negative. Especially expired cheapo films. My digital color work has never been the same and I'm almost always striving for that hyper contrasty, saturated look of well exposed KodakGold.

Does anyone else have frames of theirs in mind that simply made them reconsider everything that came before then? It's amazing how these things stick around in our minds. Below are a few more favorites from the two rolls I shot that afternoon, forever changing my approach to color. 

Rita Moreno at the National Portrait Gallery

Every once in a while I like to sign up for an event gig in an effort to explore a new venue, meet new people and stretch my muscles a bit in an area outside of live music and the Streets. Some events prove to be really rewarding and present me with ample opportunities to achieve all objectives,

Rita Moreno's interview and showcase at the National Portrait was such an occasion.

Rita's personality is truly addicting and inspiring, and the humor in which she dispatches the numerous life lessons she learned on her at times shaky road to stardom reminds the observer that nothing comes easy, especially if you're breaking the mold.

There were times throughout the evening when I just flat out stopped photographing so I could listen and laugh.

Report from the basement: My first trip to the Dougout

I finally made it up to the Dougout a few weeks ago, which is, in summary; an un-airconditioned DIY music venue in NE DC that serves as a small stage for local acts, an outpost for various associates in the scene.

Steve-O Par

Also an impromptu barbershop for anyone that needs a cut.

In essence, it's everything I couldn't get together but would have loved to be a part of back when I was focused on trying to make music.

The menu that night consisted of The Obsessives, Boardroom Heroes and Kill Lincoln. The temperature in the basement viewing area was somewhere around 80ish degrees but all the bands powered through and took care of business.

Kill Lincoln

As per my new usual, I loaded some Tri-X into my BessaR and looked to add some artificial light to the mix. This time mounting my SB-600 on-camera and making some Hail Mary exposures. I'm still getting used to this adding flash without chimping a digital playback screen and I think I am making some progress.

The Obsessives

The Obsessives

Boardroom Heroes

Kill Lincoln plus audience members

The film was then souped in Kodak HC110 and scanned with my PrimeFilmXA film scanner.