My film journey started about a year and a half ago when I was gifted a Canon AE-1. I didn't really have too much interest in it, to be honest. It sat for a couple of weeks until I decided to try it out. I watched some YouTube videos and researched how to load film and use the camera, and then I shot a roll of Ilford XP2 one afternoon and dropped it off at a drugstore - of all places - to have it developed. The next day I went to pick up my photos. Luckily the meter in that old AE-1 still worked; I was blown away by the results and I knew right then and there I was going to be shooting much more film in the future.
I enjoyed shooting with film so much that I ended up selling my digital gear and diving right into it. The film community is another one of my favourite parts about this journey: everyone is super helpful, encouraging, and genuinely seems to love to share tips, tricks, ideas etc. There's no competition here, just a common bond bringing everyone together.
Due to this encouragement, I've finally started to develop my own B&W film at home. I've been really enjoying shooting in black and white again. Every time I pull a new set of negatives out of the tank and view them for the first time, I get that same excited feeling from that day I got my first (terrible drug store) scans back.
When I was sharing my photos on social media I noticed there weren't nearly the amount of pages sharing black and white work, and the ones that were dedicated to b&w seem to no longer be in use, so I decided to start @silvervisionfilm so I could share the work of the many people who helped me along the way and who have inspired me. There are so many great shooters out there, and I want to share their work with like minded people. I'm definitely not against shooting colour in any way, I'm just really enjoying the B&W lately. So far the response has been awesome and it's nice to see the #silvervisionfilm tag being used.
If you’re on Instagram, stop by Justin’s feed, or Silvervision Film, and say hi! Got a film journey of your own you’d like to share? Put it in the comments, send it to us in an email, or holler at us on Instagram.
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Check out more of film photographer Justin Piercy’s work on his Instagram, and be sure to check out his Silvervisionfilm feed for lots of great black & white photography! (AND a chance to get featured there if you use the #silvervisionfilm tag!)