Today’s Post by Joe Farace
National Photography Month began in 1984 as part of something that was originally called the American Photography Celebration but later included the entire month of May. For a short time it was also the home of Take Your Camera to Work Day a website that was funded out of my own pocket but faded after a few years because I couldn’t keep up with the cost of creating a user-friendly site for people to upload their photographs. If I could find a sponsor, I would like to try to restart it in 2023. May is also my birthday month and I’d like to thank everyone for their support of this blog, my car photography blog and my YouTube channel over the years.
While the tools used for photography have changed since its inception some 170+ years ago, the fascination it generates has not stopped. In fact, the more the tools advance, the more we seem to cherish a quality photograph. Photography develops in us more than just a memory; it provides a with a way to touch time.
Use #NationalPhotographyMonth to share on social media.
How will you spend the month? How you choose to participate is entirely up to you but I have an IDEA for film photographers: Snap a Frame a Day
One May 1, load your favorite camera with a roll of 35mm film. Maybe choose one of the rolls that can be found in the virtual Joe’s Film Box? (I know I will.) Then go outside (or inside) and make one image. The next day, drag out the camera and make frame number 2—I think you can see where this is going.
Since there are only 31 days in May and 36 frames on that roll of film, the more thrifty amongst you can use those extra five frames to be “mystery” shots that you can make and extra shots on certain days, like my birthday!
Then have the film processed and scanned and post one of the images each day during June, 2022 on your favorite social media. I will be using Instagram; follow me on @joefarace. Since June is National Great Outdoors Month maybe that will give you a theme. That month is supposed to remind us to explore our nation’s abundant wildlife refuges, parks, and natural beauty.
How I Made this Photo: I shot this image on the road to Mount Evans on the way up from Idaho Springs, Colorado during a time when Mary and I used to like to have picnics up thataway. The camera used was a Nikon FM2 probably with a Nikkor 43-86mm f/3.5, which has been called by some Internet pundits as one of Nikon’s worst lenses.
The film used was Kodak Ektachrome 100 and the exposure was unrecorded. The scan of the film was mode on Kodak’s defunct Photo CD process and was opened using Lemke Software’s Graphic Converter that produced relatively good quality files from a Photo CD disc but the software is not without its quirks. The digital image file was processed in Color Efex using the Vivenza filter.
If you would like to send me a roll of film to review or any other stuff that could be used for these posts and my videos you can mail it to:Joe Farace, PO BOX 2081, PARKER, CO 80134