Back Roads | Jen Brimmage

Country backroads have long been a place of peace and comfort for me, from the age of 13 when I would ride my bicycle down the turnrows of the cotton fields, to current day when I find myself taking the long way home after a stressful day. I always find a soothing solitude along these lonely roads.

I grew up in west Texas, and often found myself yearning to head to New Mexico. There's some magic in finding that you're the only car for miles, surrounded by the glory of the desert.

Somewhere in Texas | Olympus om1 | 50mm | Leah Curtis

Billy Henry's 'Untitled' feels like we've already arrived somewhere out west, and I can't help but wonder who used that gas pump for the final time. What is it about quiet, isolated places that evoke a yearning in me? It's a release from the digital busy-ness and constant demands of my daily life.

Untitled | Pentax 645nii | SMC Pentax fa 1 4.5 45-85mm | Billy Henry

And we continue on down the road, windows down, music up, hand waving slowly in the wind with the freedom to let go of anything we left behind.

New Mexico | Olympus om1 | gzuiko 35 | Paul O'Neill

Just An Open Road | Minolta SRT100b | Rokkor 50mm | Tiziana Venturi

Sometimes, the only way to find clarity is to get in the car and drive. No destination in mind, just the journey.

Speeding | Pentax k1000 50mm f2 | Rachael Machnee

Moonlit Dirt Road | Canon AE1 35mm | Destry Rose

Because even during the hard times, the long hours when you can't seem to find the answers, there's always rest to be found down a solitary back road.

Uphill | Voigtlander Superb TLR | Hank Beckmeyer

Waiting for spring | Rolleiflex 2.8e Xenotar 80mm f2.8 |Jess Hobbs

Since there's no specific destination, I promise it's never time wasted.

Dead End | Hasselblad 503cx Zeiss 80mm 2.8 | Kodak TriX 400 | Michael Hertz

Connect

Film photographer and back road enthusiast Jen Brimmage is based in Texas. Connect with her on her instagram.

Featured Photographer | Pam Stach

This month’s featured photographer is Pam Stach, who posts her work on Instagram as https://instagram.com/jeanne_d_arctique. You may already have come across her spectacular film photos of her home, Greenland. As you’ll see in this selection of work, she uses a variety of film stocks and experimental methods to translate for us the natural beauty of the landscape. As a person born in Greenland she has a unique native perspective on a place that is often viewed as exotic by outsiders.

I have included both her own descriptions of her photographs and her answers to some interview questions I posed.

This is made with a filmsoup with handpicked mixed (arctic) flowers. Among those flowers were fireweed, camomile, and yellow poppies. I have picked this one because I find it to be very delicate with the pink tones and the droplets on the grass.

You live in Nuuk, the largest city in Greenland. Have you always lived in Greenland?

 I have lived in many places. I was born in Greenland, but shortly after my mom and I moved to Sweden and then Denmark when I was 5 years old. When I was 11 we moved back to Greenland to a small town called Nanortalik. After graduation I spent one year in Washington State as an exchange student. Moved back to Greenland, got a bachelor degree and moved to Paris, France and lived there for 3.5 years. After that I went back to Denmark to get my master degree in anthropology and then I moved back to Greenland and have been here since.

When did you start practicing film photography? Do you also take digital photos?

 I started when I lived in Paris. It took me a long time to figure out what I liked to photograph. But when I moved back to Greenland I discovered I loved taking landscape pictures. I don’t take digital pictures - only with my phone. It never really appealed to me.

This was such a cold day and very windy too. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius with a chill factor of minus 40 degrees Celsius. And I was quite lucky that the batteries didn’t die. I was actually surprised how the birds (a mix of ravens and seagulls) seemed to enjoy this rough weather, and the lighting of the tesla II film just adds more drama while the halo from the Daguerre Achromat art lens creates some sort of harmony or balance. Here you also see the sea smoke and snow blowing away on the mountains out in the horizon. 

What are/is your favorite camera/lens?

I think my favorite is the Olympus OM-4 because it is small and lightweight and therefore easy to have with me wherever. But I also love my Daguerre Achromat art lens a lot, but with this is, since it is rather heavy and large, I use this one with more intent.

The photo below was taken on another very cold day, using the Achromat lens and Lomochrome Turquoise film. I was out driving with a friend and I asked him to stop the car to capture this. Sometimes you have to be really quick because you never know if the batteries of your camera are going to die.

You work shows a love of experimentation. You have tried souping film as well as using a range of “specialty” films with color shifting or other altering effects. Can you tell us what makes you gravitate toward using these films to document what is already – to most of your viewers – a very unique landscape?

Yes, Greenland has a very unique landscape, but what I truly like about these “specialty” films and other experimentations is that it gives a fresh and unique view on Greenland from a native point of view. Greenland has always been documented from outsiders and rarely from ourselves. My approach is a fresh take and I would also argue a more playful take on it. I have noticed that the main narrative about the arctic is that it is a harsh and unfriendly environment, but that is very untrue for us to have lived here for millennia and thrived. I think what I am trying to do is to offer an alternative view on the arctic.

In South Greenland we get drift ice from the Northern East coast of Greenland with rather big icebergs. The drift ice is so massive you can see it from space with swirls full of eddies. It is a summer occurrence and they do bring colder air but also very fresh air since they release thousands of old captured air. 

Above left: The spots of the Revolog Volvox film give a sense something magical is going on here. For me, nature is magical. Above right: Double exposure of flowers and space. We are all made of stardust.

Readers would love to hear more about your sense of connection to place. What specific features do you most enjoy photographing in different seasons?

 In the winter it is the ice, the snow, and often the wind I have come to realize. Maybe because it is easier to capture due to the snow swirling around. Spring is really my least favorite season, but I have discovered black and white photography goes well here. Summer is all about the flowers and lakes and other greenery scenes. And the autumn is the crispy weather along with the classic autumn colours. All year is always the mountains, the sea and our sunsets/sunrise.

I woke up at 3 in the morning to take this picture. I wanted to capture the star and the mountains mirrored on the surface of the sea, but I had no idea that I would also capture the earliest sign of the dawn. Again, light leaks are simply the best.

This was taken during a time where I walked a lot. I was in a midst of a heartbreak and it seemed like the only soothing thing was walking no matter the weather. This was taken during the colder days and the glacier at the bottom of Nuuk fiord had been unusually active that winter.

What things have you noticed changing in your environment that might be related to climate change?

 That the weather has become unpredictable. Even the elders can’t recognize the seasons anymore. The temperatures are also extreme while the average temperature has become higher.  Another thing is that the precipitation has been altered in that sense that our summer and autumn has become a lot more and unusually wet with significant consequences.

 Meanwhile during winter we don’t get as much snow anymore and that is not good for our plants because when the temperature drops  the snow is not there to protect them from the harsh cold and strong winds due to the chill factor. Which leads to a bad berry season among other things. And last year we could feel and see the smoke from the forest fires from Canada and one day we could also smell it. It was a truly bizarre experience.

This is from the early autumn where the nights are cold enough for the lakes to have a thin layer of ice. This is a after a mild storm we had earlier and it had broken up the ice and blown it across the lake to the opposite shore, actually making the lake ice free again.

Film Shooters Collective would like to thank Pam for sharing just a few of her remarkable images, as well as her insights about her homeland. Please take a look at more of her work at https://instagram.com/jeanne_d_arctique and give her a follow. Stay tuned to this blog for more film photographer features!

The Frugal Film Project | Larry Effler

Several of us in the FSC take part in the Frugal Film Project (I’m in my second year - I liked it so much I signed up again), and today we are pleased to present it to the rest of you, who might not have heard of it before. This article is by Larry Effler. — Amy Jasek

Larry Effler’s first Frugal Film Photo of 2024. Minolta Maxxum, 28-80 Sigma Zoom, Kodak UltrMax 400

The host and founder of the Embrace the Grain Podcast recently asked another podcaster, “What do you do when your inspiration to shoot photos goes ‘poof’ and disappears?” It’s funny that Sherry Christensen should ask that, because her other passion project is what many other photographers turn to when their inspiration goes “poof!”

Sherry’s “Frugal Film Project” is in its fifth year and it’s growing strong. More than 400 photographers have signed up to use a “frugal” camera to shoot a roll of frugal film every month. The monthly commitment helps so many of us overcome our lapses in inspiration.

Frugal Film Facts

The Project was inspired by a quote from a renowned wildlife and travel photographer David DuChemin. “I read a book he wrote, and the quote ‘the best way to learn exposure is to grab an old Spotmatic and some cheap B&W film.’ Sherry said. “It made me think, a basic camera and some cheap film? What a great idea! I asked the Negative Positives Facebook group if anyone might be interested in joining me in such a project, expecting maybe two or three people! But the response was much more. The first two years we had a dedicated website but it kept growing so much that we migrated to a Facebook group.”

The Frugal Film Project is easy to join, and the rules are simple. Source a camera for $75 USD or less and 12 rolls of inexpensive film. Shoot one of those rolls every month. Then you’ll need to join the “Frugal Film Project ‘24” Facebook group (don’t forget to answer the questions to join the fun!) then post your best photos from each roll. (Find the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1163101494091862/.) That’s it.

Above photos by Jim Graves.

Frugal Cameras

Those of us in the film photography community do have to face the fact that our hobby has become more costly over the last few years. So, can we still take decent pictures with a sub-75 dollar in 2024? Scrolling through the Frugal Film Project proves that answer to be a resounding “Yes!” The quality and variety of the photography is amazing. You will see beautiful dreamy landscapes, crisp urban street photos, portraiture, still life, macro, vintage color, and just about everything else. It’s a good place to go for inspiration.

If you’re thinking of joining The Frugal Film Project but can’t decide what kind of camera to use, a visit to the Facebook Group will also offer some inspiration. Late 90s and early 2000s auto-focus SLRs are well represented. My 2024 FFP Camera is a Maxxum 7000 with a 50mm AF Rokkor and an off brand zoom all from Goodwill for $45. Point and shoots are popular, too, but if you look closely you will see some more interesting cameras. How about a FED 4 from the old USSR? Another member is shooting with a 1960s Minolta rangefinder. You’ll see Holgas, Dianas, medium format folders, Brownie Hawkeyes, and Argus bricks. One enterprising Frugal Filmster is using a pinhole camera made from an old coffee can! You can’t get much more Frugal than that. Anything goes if you stay within the spirit of frugality. That means the new Leica M6 your rich uncle gifted you is not an appropriate Frugal Film camera even if it cost you less than $75.

Frugal Film

Film choice is part of the spirit of frugality, too. This isn’t the project for that $30 roll of fancy slide film you’ve been saving. Fomopan and Kentmere are popular black and white choices. Kodak Color Plus and FujiColor are common on the color side. One member is shooting a pack of Instax Mini every month! The film stock doesn’t matter as long as it’s not too expensive and you use the same one every month. It also doesn’t matter whether you process the film or send it to a lab. If you send it out, you might want to plan that turnaround time into your shooting schedule. And speaking of turnaround time, I’ve learned that it’s a lot easier to get through a 24 exposure roll in a month than it is to shoot 36.

Above photos by Christina Thomas

Frugal Film Community

When you join the Frugal Film Project you will find yourself in good company. Alex Luyckx, the well known “Explorer, Wanderer and Photographer” is an FFP veteran. He blogs about his entry for each month. Along with Alex’s beautiful photographs you will get a travelog on the fascinating history of some Canadian towns as well as an education on B&W film exposure and development. You’ll find his blog at http://www.alexluyckx.com/.

David Mihaly is “The Old Camera Guy” and an old hand with the Frugal Film Project. You can count on this popular YouTuber to post a unique and entertaining video with his monthly submissions. The Old Camera Guy takes the “Frugal” part seriously. His 2024 camera cost $2.25! (The lens was just a little more.) Check out his latest FFP video at https://youtu.be/MBr0lqKcp5M?si=SocFbQd-ZsPFMisu

Molly Kate is another YouTube personality involved with the Frugal Film Project. She’s shooting Kodak Gold 120 in her Holga this year (because it’s even easier to get through 12 exposures in a month!) You’ll see it on her “Eclectachrome” channel at https://youtu.be/dguSfuoP_zo?si=dpUgmiVMY8O7XcU4.

And of course, Sherry Christensen, host and founder of the Embrace the Grain Podcast is still frugal. Back in 2019 Sherry loaded her Pentax MV (it cost her a whopping 99 cents!) with Kodak Gold 200 to start the Frugal Film Project. In 2024 Sherry was planning on joining the Point and Shoot crowd with a Canon AF35M2 from 1983. This $5 Sure Shot will be loaded with Fujifilm Superia from 2019… but a cold snap made her rethink this decision. She opted for using a Pentax SF1 with a Magicon zoom and a Pentax zoom, with a total cost of $43 USD shipping included. Learn more about Sherry and the podcast at https://embracethegrain.com/. (below photos by Sherry)

These are just a few members of the film photography community who take part in the Frugal Film Project. So, find yourself an inexpensive camera, a dozen rolls of economical film and join, too. It’s a great way to have some cheap fun!

Connect

Connect with the Frugal Film Project - and join in! - on Facebook, on Instagram, and the website.