My 10 Favorite Recent Film Photos | Virginia Film Photographer

Happy New Year!

As I reflected and planned towards 2024, one of my goals was to pick up my film camera more. I have been shooting and developing film for 15+ years, and it has always been one of the most inspiring parts of my photography journey. Film is truly magic. Getting to see my photos appear for the first time under the dim light of the darkroom is an experience like no other. I have always been inspired by the dreamy, nostalgic look of film.

As I was reflecting on my own creative photographic process, I realized something – offering film would be so perfect for my wedding clients.

My goals in my wedding photography style have always been to capture timeless, heirloom images that feel like you. Offering my film photography service is like the icing on the cake to creating images you can pass down for generations. Film is nostalgic and captures the moment like no other.

Your wedding photos should be timeless. You should be able to cherish them for years to come. Incorporating film into my digital photography will add a beautiful, nostalgic aesthetic to your wedding photo collection. Film captures light and color in a very special way. Due to the nature of having a limited number of exposures on a roll of film, we wait for what iconic French street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment”, the exact moment of when to snap the shutter to capture the authentic, genuine memories of your special day.

I am so excited to shoot more film this year and I am even offering a special add-on price to my first three couples who choose to add film to their photography package.

If you’re looking for a wedding photographer – I’d love to chat with you!

Now, in the mood of the new year and reflecting, today I’m going to share my favorite 10 recent film photos. I’ll share a little bit of the story behind each photo, as well as where it was taken. These photos are straight out of camera, meaning they are not edited. I want to show the raw images and how the light and colors were captured in each moment. To perfect my film photos captured on wedding days, I may choose to edit them a bit to make them even better.
The photos below are all my personal work, but will give you an idea of the magic we can achieve with film.

1. Starting off with a favorite. Captured in Florence, Italy. I had always wanted to explore Il Giardino delle Rose, and especially take a few photos there. It was absolutely beautiful. I just love the colors here, rendered so nicely by one of my favorite film stocks.

2. Sticking with the floral theme – I love the simplicity and colors of these spring blooms, captured in Colonial Williamsburg.

3. This photo was taken in Vernazza, in Cinque Terre. It’s one of our favorite places in the world. The beautiful color palette of the houses is world famous. You may notice a lighter area on the left side of the photo. This is a light leak, something unique to some film cameras. This camera is a family heirloom and the light leaks appear every so often; I think of them as the camera’s signature and a reminder of it’s special previous owner.

4. This photo was also taken in Vernazza, from the famous viewpoint, giving you perspective of the town. Vernazza is part of the Cinque Terre, meaning the “five lands”. They are charming, picturesque towns situated on the sea and they are linked together by world-famous hiking trails. This photo was taken just off the trail. If you are ever in Italy, I’d definitely recommend visiting!

5. Continuing with the storytelling from Cinque Terre, I took this photo on the hike up to the viewpoint in photo 4. As an artist, I am always in awe of the little details. I love to capture unique features, textures, and anything else that can tell the special story of the place.

6. Time for a black & white. This photo was taken on a family trip up to Nellysford. We got to visit Bold Rock, and I loved trying the seasonal flavors on their flight. This was during the holiday season, so they had lots of decorative lights. I purposefully shot this photo at a low aperture, focusing on the flight board, and making the foreground and background out of focus. I also made this choice because I knew the string lights in the back and reflecting off the glass in the foreground would make some beautiful bokeh. Bokeh are the balls of light you see. This is a visual phenomenon that occurs in photography when you use a low aperture paired with a specific lens and distance. I love the cozy, festive feel this photo has. In this photo you’ll also notice a little more grain – this comes into play based on the type of film used (often an aesthetic choice in itself).

7. What a perfect cocktail hour vibe! Pictured are my Hugo Spritz and my husband’s Negroni – two of our favorite cocktails. I love how you can also see the light trickling in the background; we were off a city side street in Rome and the setting sun slowly made it’s way past.

8. I am just obsessed with this photo! I love the colors and the lighting here. The feel of this photo is completely due to it being captured on film. A perfect summer afternoon getting lunch in Rome.

9. I couldn’t believe how much I loved this photo when I got the film scans back. The colors. The greenery. The textures. The grain. This is another instant of me being an observer. While walking back to our apartment in Florence, this side street with the bicycle perfectly placed caught my eye. The sun was very low at this point, so you can notice the low light and the visible grain in this image.

10. Now this is Italian summer. I would definitely label this photo as “la dolce vita”. A perfect summer day. I just love the sun reflecting off the water, the splashes off the rocks, even the mist on the far left is all captured on film. The dynamic range of film allows me to capture the scene in front and also the bright sunny sky without things being overexposed (too bright). This picture really gives me a sense of nostalgia and happiness.

11. A bonus one! I had to include this one too. What a “postcard” moment. I was in awe of this picturesque view on our hike back down from photo #1. A beautiful view of one of my favorite cities in the world – Florence. I love the grain in this photo, how the colors are rendered, the brick of the duomo contrasting with the beautiful colors of the hills, becoming less and less saturated as they fade into the distance. These are the kinds of whole-scene, storytelling photos I like to add to a collection.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. As you can tell, I have a special passion for film and look forward to getting to provide these special photos to my clients in 2024.
Please get in touch to find out how you can add film to your photo package!