12 Months on Film: April on the Road with the Canon ae-1
I completed the April installment of 12 Months on Film on the road from Seattle to Sunnyvale. I kept my Canon ae-1 in the passenger seat for most of the trip, intending to shoot many, many rolls of film. I ended up finishing two - Kodak Gold 200 and Ultramax 400. With weather not exactly in my favor and miles that dragged on despite the cliffside views, I chose to save the additional rolls I had packed for other things.
Working with both digital and film at the same locations always highlights the different ways the two formats handle a scene. While I was using digital to guarantee I captured the views despite the poor weather, picking up the AE-1 forced me to slow down and look at the coast differently.
The choices of film that I made worked well with the moody Pacific Northwest atmosphere in a way the digital files didn't quite replicate. The Gold and UltraMax took the heavy mist hanging over the sea stacks, the winding lines of the highway, and the deep greens of the redwoods, and gave them a softer, more nostalgic feeling.
Even though the driving felt long and the weather was stubborn, these two rolls ended up being the perfect visual wrap-up for the move down the coast.
