Featured

Episode 97 – David Mihaly, The Old Camera Guy

Our guest is The Old Camera Guy, David Mihaly. If you haven’t heard of David check out his YouTube channel “The Old Camera Guy” where you can see all sorts of camera reviews, landscape photos of rural Ohio and portraits too!

This episode we catch up on what we did this week… Larry’s going in circles, Jake’s still dealing with lingering issues from the building fire earlier in the year, Sherry was out exploring on the weekend (with her camera) and David hit the Beers and Camera in Columbus.

David tells us about starting a YouTube channel and advice to starting one, just do it! The gear isn’t important, find some engaging content and just be you! Start simple and let it grow naturally. You can find David’s channel The Old Camera Guy here. Portraits with Lomo Purple? Yup! Cheap Film Photos? Yup! Shooting with a Kodak Brownie? Yup!!! Plus so much more… wait, that’s from a 90’s infomercial. However… some of David’s favourites are from that era. He also discusses some of his favourite films, bulk rolling and film development.

Larry asked David what draws him to small town America and how he can capture it so beautifully. Tune in to hear his answer.

Reflex Lab is sending David a Mini Flash to test out… we look forward to seeing this video. He says this is out of his comfort zone with flash and is looking forward to it’s arrival. You can find David on social media and YouTube as The Old Camera Guy.

Sacha’s Question of the Week:

With Drones, taking pictures of otherwise inaccessible vantage points, our level of access to shooting the world has grown substantially. If you could fly and take a picture from any angle, what would your dream picture be? Login to our FB group Embrace The Grain Photography Group to share your answer!

Larry’s Camera Review of the Week:

This episode Larry shares his thoughts on the Lomo Instant Camera… the history and birth of Instax, but as Larry says the Fuji Instax looks like a teenaged girls purse, however it sports a glass lens and some manual controls.

This will be our last episode of the season, but we will be back next fall!

Featured

Episode 96 – The art of downsizing…for now.

Welcome to episode 96 and the art of downsizing! Join the ETG crew and Bill Smith from the Classic Camera Revival Podcast as he tells us about packing up his camera collection to move after his Mothers death, cleaning up his darkroom and what he is doing with his gear.

So what do you you do? Sell? Store? What do you choose and how do you figure out how to continue shooting? Do you take a break from photography or outsource? Put it all in your creepy cousins garage?

Bill has decided to store most of his gear at his brothers place until everything is settled into his new place. Rubbermaid containers, silica packs and a barebones kit are his choice during this period of transition. He found that he is shooting more colour film over the black and white film because he outsources the colour, it keeps his home tidy for realtor viewings and he is selling some darkroom gear via a local camera store.

So what did he choose when temporarily downsizing, he moved some film between his home and partners place in a camera bag. For cameras he choose his Nikkormat he’s using for Frugal Film Project, another Nikon body that he can share lenses with the Nikkormat, his Nikon rangefinder, a Canon F, a Rollie 35 and C220 Mamiyia. All fit in a couple camera bags he can grab and go… you can find Bill on Facebook and Instagram (wbsmith200)

Sacha has recently went through the same process, moving homes this winter. He has most of his cameras unpacked, but some are still in storage…and he is in the process of unpacking them.

Want to support the show? Buy us a Ko-fi!

Did you enjoy the show? If so… leave us a review or rating! It helps others find us…

Featured

Episode 95

This episode is a little bit different, once again life has sprung a few surprises on some of the cast of ETG! Sacha has found moving into a new home to be quite the job and was unable to join us. Jake has a LOT of excitement on the weekend… the kind that involves sirens and smoke. His neighbour had a major fire and he had to move out for a bit. So what are we to do… Sherry went solo and Larry did a review! So we still have a show… just a bit different one.

So what were the topics this episode? Some gear, of the thrifty kind and not so thrifty kind, local bidding group (like eBay but on a Facebook group), having fun being a camera hoarder… creativity and a camera review. The Canon EOS 650. Also we have three more episodes before spring break… it will be farming time for Sherry, so the podcast will be off air until after fall is over.

So challenge of the month? ISO 800… shot any film at ISO 800. Simple right? Here are a few of Sherry’s film photos at ISO 800, using Lomo 800, expired Kodak 800 and Ilford hp5 at 800. Stay positive and embrace the grain!

Featured

Episode 94 – Dave Marshall – Flic Film

This episode Jake and Sherry chatted with Dave Marshall from Flic Film Dave started up the business Flic Film as a startup a couple years ago when COVID happened. Dave was having problems getting photography supplies and decided to design some machinery to make his own blends of chemistry and then added in a few accessories.

It has been growing leaps and bounds since… from a few rolls of black and white film and some developers, to colour film to the recent purchase of Street Candy brand film.

All of his extra time has quickly evolved into a small factory setting that now ships film and other products around the world, including to Europe, Hong Kong and Australia.

Flic Film is based in Longview, Alta., a village of about 300 people located in a ranching area with mountain views about 65 kilometres south of Calgary.

The shop sells over 200 different products, with about half of the items manufactured in-house. Besides producing many rolls of film a week, the business also mixes chemicals and sells kits to develop film at home.

Dave has also released two more new colour films, Psychedelic 400 and Aurora 800.

Dave is also an accomplished photographer covering the American southwest who enjoys shooting his Nikons, he will be showing some prints in the next couple weeks at Lake Havasu. Best of luck with your show Dave! You can find some of Dave’s work in his zines Travels with Sam

If you want to get in touch with Dave, you can email him at prairielightcorp@gmail.com and if you are interested in checking out Flic Film’s products check out his website Flic Film

Larry’s camera of the week is… the Olympus XA. You can listen on any pod catcher of your choice or on the web on this website (check the menu above.)

Featured

Episode 93 – Katya Rowny – 12 Months On Film

Welcome Katya from the 12 Months on Film project that is located on Instagram. So what is this project you ask? Shoot 12 different rolls of film, such as gold, hp5, portra, velvia, triX etc. on any film camera you choose, one roll per month. That’s it! It can be a Leica or a Holga or any camera of your choice. You can use 12 cameras or one… that’s your choice.

What a great idea to test cameras or use the one off films hiding in the corner of your fridge. Unlike some other projects this one concentrates on diversity and exploring film film stocks. Maybe you are new to film photography and need to explore the different films and different camera formats to find your favourite.

So why join up? How do you join? First you need Instagram, then follow 12monthsonfilm, tag the account and become a collaborator, once done and accepted you can upload your work to the main feed and everyone can see your work.

It sounds like a blast!

Larry’s Camera of the show: Canon 70D his choice for digital work, find out why he chose this camera by listening to the podcast. Check out his favourite lens choices too.

A little bit about Katya. She moved to the USA as a child from the Soviet Union. Some of her favourite cameras are soviet cameras and she is starting a nice collection of them. She also adores her Holgas and is looking forward to trying her Emulsive Secret Santa gift of a Kodak Tourist. Since she is a colour lover; Katya is also waiting to try the new Flic Film Aurora 800 speed colour film. This is a c-41 native film that can be pushed to 1600 but beware… there is NO dx code, so make sure to use it on a manual ISO capable to set your film speed. Katya also writes for Shoot it on Film which has tons of information, check it out.

Places to find Katya:

her website: krowny.com

Instagram: analouge.katya and 12monthsonfilm

Sacha’s question of the week:

Who has influenced your photography the most? Check the Facebook group to see the answers!

Support the ETG crew by buying a Ko-Fi we are a completely free podcast so any small donation helps to keep the show going! See you in two weeks!

Featured

Episode 92 -Trevor Meunier

This episode we talked big things… also slow things… confused? Don’t be, welcome back Trevor Meunier (episode 67) a fellow Canadian photographer from Ontario who shoots large format with a passion for slow speed film.

Trevor tells us all about different cameras and their sizes, what to look for to start out with and films other than the typical Ilford or Kodak selections. He likes the Arista ortho litho 3.0 films and Inkpress Royal Regent Hard Dot, both are ISO 3. These are safelight and budget friendly.

Trevor is also interested in cyanotype and glass plate dry negatives as well. He has started looking into both of these.

He explains what camera we should start with, different sizes of negatives and cameras that are available. He also explains what lenses to look for and how to do the size equivilant charts are available on google to help new shooters, such as 150mm being the same as a 50mm lens on 35mm film camera.

Trevor also explains “the Dance” something most large format photographers know all about. Forget one step and opps! One sheet messed up or if you are lucky a happy accident. Above is Trevor performing the Dance.

Please take a minute to check out Trevors website here so you can see his beautiful large format images.

This podcast can be heard here or on your favourite pod catcher

Featured

Episode 91 – Molly Kate

Molly Kate of Eclectachrome joins the crew for a chat.

This episode we visited about our holidays, the Emulsive Secret Santa, Frugal Film Project, pinhole photography, zines and what our first cameras were… and here is Molly Kate with her first camera!

Check out Molly Kate’s Urban Contradictions zine. Its all about how one street is noisy and busy, then just around the corner it is calm and quiet. You can find out more details from Molly Kate.

12 months on film

Tired of us talking about cheap cameras and the Frugal Film Project? Here is one project where diversity is key. You can try something new every single month! Both Molly Kate and Larry are doing this one, it sounds fun too! All you need is 12 rolls of film, all different kinds, all you need is 12 of them. You can use different cameras too… if you have 12… you can go for a different one every month. If you have one camera, that works too. You need only swap out the film stock each month. Details can be found on Instagram under 12monthsonfilm

Apps for pinhole:

Jake received a cool pinhole camera from his Emulsive Secret Santa, but needs an app to meter it. Sherry suggested Pinhole Assist, but it is apple only and he is an android user. Lightmeter was suggested (sorry no link) and Crown & Flint. The latter app records data that includes a light meter. You can find out more about it on Molly Kate’s YouTube channel or the link above.

Jankuary

Do you love trying out old janky gear? 35mmc has the Jankuary Camera Challenge going on… Aunt Gerts old 110 instamatic sitting in the closet? Gab some Lomo 110 and shoot a roll! How about your Moms old point and shoot? Or that old 4px digicam? Sounds like a fun challenge too, so much going on in January, new year… new challenges right?

YouTube

Molly Kate has a terrific YouTube channel called Eclectachrome, tons of inspirational and creative content can be found there. Make sure to stop by and visit here there if you haven’t already. Molly Kate has everything from film, travel to news available on her channel.

Photography Q of the week:

What is your biggest challenge/challenge when is comes to photography?

You can read the answers or join us for a more interactive experience over on our Facebook Group. EmbraceThe Grain Photography Podcast

Thinking of becoming a content creator? Here’s some help if you are. Kevin Kolbe might be a good place to start.

Buy us a cup of coffee and help support the show! Available on most pod catchers or you can listen here.

Catch you in two weeks!

Featured

Episode 90 – Merry Christmas!

Join the ETG crew as they reflect on what 2023 had in store for them. Did they finish their projects? Or did life happen and the projects get put on pause. Tune into the podcast to find out their answer.

What Christmas gift do the crew wish for? Besides painters tape hehe. Sasha has his question of the week “what would you like to give an another photographer for Christmas?” Check the Facebook Group for answers and to participate. We would love to hear your 2024 goals over on FB too.

Larry recommends the Instax 210 wide for capturing those holiday memories to share prints with your family.

What’s in store for 2024? All four of the hosts are doing the Frugal Film Project ’24 this year! You can find the FFP’23 (which will be updated mid January ’24) its the one with the pink Pentax on the cover. The mission is to use a frugal ($75 USD budget) camera kit and some cheap film, is there such a thing these days? Well, perhaps Kentmere is a more frugal film than Porta… you get the meaning. The film can be expired or purchased via auction or thrift, or even your favourite retailer, its your choice… you just need 12 rolls of the same stuff. For example 12 rolls of Fomapan 400.

Plus we all want to do a better job of keeping up on the developing… whether from the lab or our kitchen sink, the struggle is real!

You can listen to the podcast here or on your favourite pod catcher. Thanks for listening!

Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays from Jake, Sacha, Larry & Sherry.

Support the show, buy us a Ko-fi

Featured

Episode 89 – Johnny Martyr

Join Sherry, Jake and Larry for a conversation with Johnny Martyr. Johnny is a working professional working photographer doing weddings, portraits and shooting celebrity gigs. Johnny is a Leica and Nikon shooter who favours B&W photography.

Johnny has been a freelance author for Petapixel since 2018 and has photographed politicians including Bill & Hillary Clinton; musicians Veruca Salt & comedian Nikki Glaser. When he’s not shooting, Johnny collects Night of the Living Dead trading cards & enjoys drinking absinthe while listening to 80’s & 90’s brit pop.

Larry’s camera review of the episode: the Sony F828

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is a 8.0 megapixel digital bridge camera announced by Sony on August 15, 2003. 

As successor of the DSC-F717, F828 was widely considered “revolutionary” at launch. Major changes / improvements over its predecessor, the 2002 F717 include:

  • “Carl Zeiss T*” lens with 7x (28-200mm) zoom range, wider compared to F717’s 5x (38-190mm)
  • Mechanically-linked zoom ring
  • 8.0 megapixel, 2/3 inch, 4-color RGBE CCDs, highest pixel counts in any consumer camera sensors at launch.
  • Upgraded electronics for faster focus and post-processing. Continuous AF, and VGA-quality (640×480) filming were made possible.
  • Addition of a CompactFlash slot as an alternative to Sony’s proprietary Memory Sticks. Although, a Memory Stick Pro is required for VGA-quality filming.
  • Shutter speed up to 1/3200s

The F828, along with the “Cyber-shot F” series designation, was discontinued in 2005.

Despite having attractive on-paper specs, F828 did not fare as well as its predecessor among camera reviewers and photographers. F828 received a “Recommended / Above average” rating from DPReview, in contrast to a “Highly recommended” given to F717.

Visible picture noise, associated with increased pixel density and underdeveloped noise reduction algorithm, was of primary concern. Moreover, the novel RGBE sensor did not bring in much improved color accuracy as expected; this led Sony to drop any further development on such sensors, making F828 the first and the last commercial camera ever to use a 4-color sensor. Many photographers also noted more severe purple fringing on F828s than on its predecessors.

Listen to the full episode on your favourite podcatcher!

Featured

Challenge of the Month – December

Happy Holidays! Another month, another challenge!

So what’s next? Well let’s pick a theme this time, perhaps anything to do with the holidays. Use ANY camera you want… just showcase how you celebrate. Big meal? Join friends and family? Sit and hug your cat with Netflix? Go for a hike? Go to church? Decorations overload?

There is a ton you can document… grab a camera, any camera and document the holiday season!

Featured

Episode 88 – Just chattin’

Finding our way back after a long hiatus, Jake, Larry & Sherry visit about various topics. Sacha was unable to join us tonight (Happy Birthday Mrs. Sacha!)

Book review tonight, Sherry brings us Impounded by Dorothea Lange. Some very powerful images from a dark time in history.

Kodak price increases Jan 1 2024 for all 35mm films. On the other hand we have the Phoenix rising… Dec 1 a new colour film from Harman is coming out. Can’t wait to try this one out.

Jake found a nickel Rolliecord!

What a beauty.

Larry reviews his Nikkormat.

Sacha has his Question of the Week:

What is your biggest tip when you are missing your photo mojo?

Answers can be found in our Facebook group, Embrace the Grain Photography Podcast (please answer the questions if you choose to to join us there!)

Featured

Film of the Month!

Our monthly challenges are still happening!

Sometimes its a film, sometimes its a lens or sometimes its a theme such as seasons. Every month we do something new in our Facebook group or on our Instagram. So if you feel like trying something new… join us, this month its Lomography Purple!

Featured

Lens of the Month!

For April we don’t have a film of the month… what??? We decided to switch things up and give something new a try. We realize some of the films we choose in the past were difficult to find, or the price was a bit high… so we picked a lens that is a frugal often forgotten focal length! It is the 135mm prime lens. I’m sure most people already have one in a camera bag just collecting dust… such was the case for me. I seem to have multiple copies that appeared over the years, the only one I purchased was for my Leica R system and it was a bargain!

Pentax Spotmatic
grab your 135 lens and join us!

A few years back I participated in dan Novak’s 135 Challenge and discovered I really enjoyed the 135 focal length. So why not do it again? The rules are simple:

  • use a 135mm focal length lens
  • any camera is eligible, yes digital or film, grab those lens adapters!
  • if you shoot film, you can use a film of your choice
  • black and white OR colour, does not matter which
  • have fun!
  • share your results on the Embrace the Grain Photography Podcast FB group.

Sherry

Featured

Film Of The Month – March

Well its that time again, for a new film of the month! This month we have Kentmere 100 as the choice. It is a budget black and white film that should be fun to play with. Looking forward to seeing your photos on the Embrace The Grain Photography Podcast Facebook group! As always we love to hear from our listeners…

Also the Music Feeds the Soul contest is closing, results will be chosen on March 8th recording date. Technically the contest is closed… but we are accepting late entries… always nice to have a few days grace! You can see the entries here

Featured

Film of The Month – February 2022

Welcome to February’s film of the month! Lomochrome Metropolis! This roll in the photo was the original kickstarter film, I’ve been waiting until I could find a battery replacement for my Trimlite…it takes a special k-battery, which I finally found an adapter on eBay! Can’t wait to try this one out.

Please share your Lomo Metropolis shots on the FB group or on IG with tag #embracethegrainpodcast for a chance to be featured on our feed!

Featured

Music Feeds The Soul – Entries

This post will contain all the cool entries for the album art sent in by our listeners!

Our first entry is from Jack Bulkley and here is what he said about his entry! “I have not come up with anything I could stage and photograph, but I did have this idea.Here is a version of a famous album cover featuring people from the film photography online community. It is crudely done, but so was the original cover.”

by Jack Bulkley

Another entry from the talented Wendy Gunderson, she wrote “I put this together for a contest at work a couple years ago. It’s a really fun challenge!”

by Wendy Gunderson

Our third entry by George Griffin.

My entry for the album cover. A recreation of John Cale’s second solo album, The Academy in Peril.

The cover was designed by Andy Warhol.

I had to find my old Kodachrome slides from 1977, to help recreate this.

By: George Griffin

Our fourth entry is from Larry Effler, here’s what he had to say. “Many of my favourite film photography podcasters andYouTubers are Canadian… as are three of my favourite musicians. I thought I would pay tribute to some of my creative neighbours to the north of the border with homage to a Rush album. Stay Positive. Larry Effler: Maryville, TN.”

By: Larry Effler
By: Larry Effacer

Last minute entry… Gabe Sachs and Jeff Greenstein wanted to do this Simon and Garfunkel album cover but had exactly 45 minutes… 5 minutes before recording and there it is… thanks guys for playing along!

Sachs & Greenstein

Cover art by Billy Sanford and his rendition of Led Zeppelin IV.

Album art by Billy Sanford, replica of Led Zeppelin IV
Album art by Billy Sanford, replica of Led Zeppelin IV

Sherry did an album for fun, using her iPhone. She’s not eligible for a prize… but played along anyway.

Featured

Music feeds the soul…

Silence may make the heart grow fonder, but music feeds the creative soul. How often do you turn on the radio in your car? Listen to a podcast while developing film? Crank up the record player while doing chores? Speaking of records or vinyl as it is called these days, remember the art that went into the covers and sleeves inside? Or if you were lucky the lyrics were in there too! So what does this have to do with the Embrace The Grain Photography Podcast?

Friend of the show Billy Sanford had a great idea and we thought it would be fun to run our first contest of 2022, an extension of his chat on the Sunny 16 presents podcast, so here are the details…

-Recreate a album cover of your choice (not the Beatles white album) think Micheal Jacksons Thriller or Saturday Night Fever.

-Submit your photos to embracethegrainpodcast@gmail.com and they will be uploaded to this site.

-You have until the end of February to submit your images.

-Sherry and Jake will pick the winner and announce it on the show. The winner will have their choice of ONE of these prizes supplied by Billy.

*A B&H gift card for $30 US

*A Analogue Wonderland £25 gift card

*Billy will mail three from his personal stash and a print!

Photo by Billy Sanford

What can you use to shoot? A camera! Film, digital, instant pretty much anything you can make an image with. Get creative.

Featured

Film of The Month – January 2022

Happy New Year!!! Film of the month is still going… as like last year we will choose a film and you can try it out! What a great way to try out some new films and share your results with others… this is an optional thing, just for fun. Don’t like the choice? There will be a new one next month to try!

This month its JCH 400, please share your results on the Embrace The Grain Photography Podcast FB group or on IG with the tag #embracethegrainpodcast for a chance to be featured on our feed!

Featured

Update…

Sherry had a family emergency last summer and had to put the show on hold. Things settled and harvest came a bit earlier than normal. Jake moved and that kept him busy too!

After such a long absence, it will take a while to get organized and back on air… but October is the month! Stay tuned, more info to come.