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.
On the Road with the Canon AE-1
Here are a few things I noticed this month:
The Reliability of a Classic SLR: Traveling with a mechanical body like the Canon AE-1 forces you to fully rely on your understanding of light. Without modern digital screens to check, you have to trust your meter and your eye as you move through changing landscapes.
Slowing Down for Road Trip Compositions: When you only have 36 frames on a roll, you don't just pull over and snap a photo. You look for the exact moment where the light hits the road or a coastal ridge, making every shutter click completely deliberate.
The Warmth of Analog Travel Frames: Film captures a road trip with a certain nostalgic quality that digital simply cannot replicate. The organic grain and classic color palette evoke the actual feeling of being on the move.
This post is part of a series documenting my move to Northern California.
Day 1: Olympic National Park: The First Stop on the Move to Silicon Valley
Day 2: The 101 South: Rugged Beauty of the Pacific Coast
Day 3: Southward Bound: From Cape Perpetua to Cape Blanco
Day 4: Redwoods and Fern Canyon: Wandering the Northern California Coast
Day 5: Point Arena Lighthouse: The Final Stop on the Way to Silicon Valley
Film Recap : April on the Road with the Canon ae-1
