Chicago – the windy city. It was my first trip back to this area in over 6 years and, in a lot of ways, it felt just like visiting an old friend.
Being born and raised in the Midwest, I had always dreamed of moving away. When I left home to go to college on the West Coast, I never looked back.
But, in Spring 2022, when a work trip took me and my partner out to this part of the country, I found that I was excited to make my way back to the familiar places I had once called home.
On this particular trip I was shooting with a Voigtlander Vitomatic IIa. I had picked up this camera at the Rose Bowl Flea Market just a few weeks prior.
Still being so new to shooting film altogether, I knew virtually nothing about rangefinder cameras. But, I figured this trip was as good a time as any to take my new camera out for a spin. So, in typical Kiersten fashion, I did very little reading up on how to operate it and decided to learn on the go.
After four days of wandering around the city and stopping at iconic Chicago landmarks (Cloud Gate, Union Station, and Giordano’s Pizza just to name a few), I came home and excitedly dropped off the roll to get developed.
The results were…interesting, though not all that surprising if I’m being honest. Not only had I shot on an expired roll of film, but this was my first time using a rangefinder camera, which was very different than the SLRs I had been accustomed to. I also later learned that the camera itself had a few minor defects which may have affected the shots as well (though I haven’t shot with it since so the validity of this theory is TBD).
More than half of the photos were either blank or indistinguishable and the rest are…well, these – causing one to maybe wonder why I even bother sharing them online at all.
But, here’s the thing. These photos are just as much a part of my film journey as any other photos I’ve taken. They document not just the growth, but the obstacles; not just the lessons, but some of the failures as well.
While I love beauty and eye-pleasing images just as much as the next person, I’m also learning that I’m not one to discard things simply because they aren’t pretty. My life is a collection of beautiful and not-so-beautiful moments and they all make up the person that I am and showcase the journey I am progressing through. I don’t want to hide away any parts of my life, no matter how hard they are to look at, and these photos are my reminder of that.
So, here I am, expired/blurry/light-leaked film photos and all.
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