c/analog-photo-stories

My entire roll from a trip to the coast came back blank. The camera shop said the shutter on my Pentax K1000 is stuck open.

Just found a roll of film from a trip to the old pier in Ocean City

I got the scans back last week and there's a shot of the boardwalk arcade. It's all lit up, but you can see the 'Closed for Season' sign on half the games. I took it on a Pentax K1000 with some expired Kodak Gold. It made me think about how that whole place used to be packed every summer night when I was a kid. Now it feels like a ghost town by September. Does anyone else get that mix of happy and sad looking at photos of places that aren't the same anymore?

Heads up for anyone shooting at the old mill in Cedarville

I was there last weekend with my Pentax K1000, trying to get some shots of the rusted machinery. I set my bag down on what looked like solid ground near the main wheel, and when I came back, the whole side was soaked through. There's a slow, constant drip from a broken pipe overhead that you can't hear over the river. It ruined two rolls of Portra 400 I had in there. Has anyone else run into hidden water traps in places like that?

Heard someone at the camera shop say 'film is just for the look, digital is for real photos' and I gotta disagree

Just realized my old Pentax K1000 is way easier to handle than my newer Nikon F100

The K1000 has no auto modes, so I have to think about each shot, and that made me slow down and actually see the light in my kitchen last Tuesday. Has anyone else gone back to a fully manual camera and found it changed their pictures?

Hot take: I started rating my film rolls before I even get them back

Everyone says you need to see the scans to judge a roll, but I started putting a little number on the canister right after I finish shooting, like a 6 or an 8, based on how I felt about the session. I did this with a roll of Portra 400 I shot at the Portland Saturday Market last month. When the scans came back, my gut rating was almost always right about which frames were keepers. It forces me to be honest in the moment. Has anyone else tried judging their work before seeing the results?

Rant: My niece called my film camera a 'hipster calculator'

She's 14 and said she only sees 'old stuff' like that in movies, which made me realize I never explain why I shoot film to people outside the hobby. I told her it's about the waiting and the single chance, not just the look, and she actually got quiet for a second. Do you guys have a simple way you describe the point of analog to someone who's never held a roll?

A roll of film from a very quiet morning at the old city docks

I got up before sunrise one Tuesday in April and walked down to the Portland waterfront with my Pentax K1000. The light was just starting to hit the pilings, and the only sound was the water. I shot the whole roll of Tri-X 400 there, just me and the gulls. I didn't see another person for over two hours. When I got the prints back, they had this calm, empty feeling the digital shots from my phone that same week just didn't. Do you have any photos from a time you had a place all to yourself?

I thought expired film was just a gimmick until I shot a roll from 1992

A friend gave me a roll of Kodak Gold 200 that had been sitting in his garage since the Clinton years. I loaded it into my Pentax K1000 expecting total garbage, but the colors came out with this wild, muted look I've never seen from fresh stock. The grain was heavy but somehow worked for street shots around downtown Phoenix last month. Now I'm hunting for more old film at thrift stores just to see what happens. Has anyone else had good luck with film that's way past its date?

The old pier in my town looks completely different after a storm

I took a photo of the pier last summer on my Pentax K1000, using a roll of Kodak Portra 400. The picture showed the whole structure, all the benches and lights in a neat row. Then we had that big storm in March, the one that knocked down the big oak on Maple Street. I went back last week with the same camera and film to get the same shot. Half the pier is just gone now, and the remaining pilings are all crooked. It's strange to have the two photos side by side, showing how much changed in less than a year. Has anyone else tried a before-and-after project like this with film?

My camera strap broke at the worst possible moment in a Seattle ferry line

I was waiting to board with my Pentax K1000 and the whole thing just fell, bouncing once before I caught it. Now I triple-check the clasp before I even leave the house. Anyone else have a gear failure story that made you paranoid?

Just realized my light meter was dead halfway through a roll at the state fair

I was in the middle of the livestock barn when I noticed the needle wasn't moving, so I had to guess the exposure for the last 12 shots by counting stops from a known setting, and three of them actually came out okay. Has anyone else had to finish a roll completely blind like that?

Vent: I used to just snap photos of my kids in the living room with my Pentax K1000.

After a roll came back with 24 blurry shots, I started planning one good shot a week, like last Tuesday's photo of my daughter by the creek, and it changed everything. Anyone else switch from just clicking to actually planning their film shots?

My cousin said my photos looked 'too perfect' and it bugged me for a week.

We were looking at my shots from a trip to the Oregon coast, and she pointed out that I only kept the technically flawless frames. She said, "The blurry one of your dog running is the one that feels real." It made me think I've been editing out the happy accidents. Do you ever keep a technically 'bad' shot because the feeling is right?

I've been loading my film wrong for a year and only noticed at a family picnic

I was taking photos at my cousin's birthday in Sacramento last weekend and my Pentax K1000 kept making a weird grinding noise. After the third roll, my uncle, who used to be a photojournalist, asked if I always left that much leader out when I loaded it. I realized I'd been threading barely an inch into the take-up spool, which was causing the film to slip. How do you make sure your film is loaded tight enough without risking a tear?

My friend said to always bracket exposures on slide film, and I'm glad I listened

I was shooting Fuji Velvia 50 at a sunrise in Joshua Tree last month, and my buddy Mark told me to shoot at the metered reading, then one stop over, and one stop under. I thought it was overkill, but the slide I metered for was way too dark. The frame shot one stop over was perfect, with all the color in the sky. Has anyone else had a piece of film advice save a shot like that?

My camera back popped open on a roller coaster and I lost a whole roll

It was the old wooden one at the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and I felt the latch give way on the first drop. I spent the next hour sifting through wood chips under the ride looking for my shots. Anyone have a good fix for a worn out back latch on a Pentax K1000?

I finally tried a weird film soup recipe I saw online and it actually worked

I had a roll of Kentmere 400 that I shot at a local fair, but the photos felt flat and boring. I remembered reading about people soaking film in things like coffee or soap to add texture. I was scared to ruin the roll, but I mixed a cup of warm water with a spoon of instant coffee and a few drops of dish soap. I put the film in a jar with the mix for about 20 minutes, then washed it and let it dry overnight. When I developed it, the photos had these cool, random brown stains and soft spots that made the fair lights look dreamy. It gave the whole set a weird, old-timey feel that I really liked. I think the key was not leaving it in too long. Has anyone else tried a film soup mix that gave you good results without wrecking the film?

Finally got a decent shot of my dog indoors with a 400 ISO film after three rolls of blurry mess.

I was about to give up on indoor pet photos, but pushing the Tri-X to 800 and using a 50mm f/1.8 lens in my dim kitchen last Tuesday actually froze her mid-yawn perfectly.

My 1972 Pentax Spotmatic jammed on the last frame of a roll at my nephew's birthday party.

The advance lever just locked up halfway through. I had to finish the party with my phone, which felt wrong. I took it apart on my kitchen table that night. Found a tiny spring had come loose inside the film counter mechanism. Got it back in place with tweezers and a lot of swearing. It's working now, but I missed the cake shot. Anyone know a good source for old Pentax service manuals online, just in case?

I found a forgotten darkroom in the basement of my new apartment building

Honestly, I was just looking for the laundry room when I saw a door with an old 'Photo Lab' sign. Inside, there's a full setup with an Omega enlarger, three trays, and a safe light that still works. The super said it hasn't been used since the 90s, but the last tenant left a box of Kodak Tri-X film in the fridge. I shot a roll of it last week and developed it down there, and the negs came out perfect. Has anyone else ever stumbled on a spot like this and brought it back to life?

My whole roll from the state fair was blank because of a stupid mistake

I was at the Ohio State Fair last month, loaded up my old Pentax K1000 with a fresh roll of Portra 400. I shot the whole thing, all 36 frames, from the giant slide to the butter cow. When I got the scans back, the lab said the film never advanced. I must have missed the sprocket holes when I loaded it in the noisy crowd. Now I have zero photos from my kid's first fair. How do you guys double check your load in a busy place without a dark bag?

My first double exposure came out by accident and it's my new favorite thing

I was messing around with my grandfather's old film camera, trying to learn how it works. I thought I rewound the film wrong and ended up taking two shots on the same frame. When I got the photos back, one frame had my dog sitting in the yard overlaid with clouds from a different day. It was a complete surprise, but the mix of images looked so cool and dreamy. I didn't plan it at all, which adds to how special it feels to me. Now I want to try more double exposures on purpose, but I love this happy accident. It's a small win that has me excited to shoot more film.

Snapping a pic mid-burpee led to my most accidental self-portrait

I was using my old Pentax to document my new fitness routine and decided to capture a burpee in action. I tripped over the camera strap, fell, and the shutter fired, resulting in a close-up of my surprised face against the gym floor. What's your funniest film photo mishap during an activity?

My favorite film photo is also my biggest ethical dilemma

It captures a raw moment without the subject's consent.