About the Author:Christian Maike is a film-shooting photographer with a day job who resides in San Francisco. Using mainly his Contax, he shoots weddings, portraits, automobile lifestyle, and the cool things one might not notice. Click on over to his website, keep in touch via Facebook, or follow him on twitter at @christianmaike.
This is quite a post and for a couple reasons. Firstly, it has a good set of photographs. Secondly, it will contain a good portion of text which will include my review of Jonathan Canlas‘ Film Is Not Dead (FIND) workshop on Maui. But since I went to a FIND workshop, I can call him Jon. This post is dedicated to photographs taken during the workshop but a follow-up post will hit which contains only personal work shot while on Maui (Jon would be so proud…). This post will also be inverted with respect to grow/create because lets be honest, going to workshop is mainly about growing.
Here we go.
Grow:At the end of summer in 2010 I had a crazy thought – I’m going to sell my rad Nikon DSLR kit which included a D700 and all kinds of other goodies. Crazy, right? I wasn’t liking it anymore because whenever I lifted the camera to my face, people parted my path like the Red Sea. I wanted to capture in-the-moment instances and the camera was inhibiting that.
So I bought a digital Leica M9 after selling every last bit of my Nikon kit in September 2010. Then I bought a traditional 35mm Leica, an M6, to supplement the M9 in October 2010.
I shot with these two cameras and my 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens. It was perfect. Especially the M6. I then realized I wanted to shoot more film. It gave me a look without sitting behind a screen running scripts, etc. It was so simple.
Then I sold the M9 in December and bought a Contax 645 after using a friend’s Bronica 645. I was hooked. Medium format film had a calling for me. I was now digital-free sans my iPhone and I hadn’t even signed up for FIND yet.
2011 hit and I gave myself a new goal – to shoot the one thing I was uncomfortable with shooting. People. It was not my thing and I knew it would push me. And it did. The other thought was – people like looking at photos of other people. So, I was going to make myself shoot primarily people.
March 2011 came along and Jon posted about FIND Maui on his blog. I jumped on it and put down my cash. I also thought “what the hell have I just done?!” Fast forward to November 2011 and I’m on a plane to Maui by myself meeting up with people who I have never met before. Not something a lot of folks would say I would have done.
The workshop is split into three days and each day consisted of lecture then shooting real people, real couples, real families. Just… real situations with Jon offering his insights and support through it all. Lecture included discussions of the various film stocks, how to properly expose, where to send your film, wedding scenarios, portrait scenarios, location, cameras, business, marketing, and so much other good stuff. Honestly, you should see the book Jon gives attendees…
The shooting days were also themed. One day was engaged couples, another was family, and another was newly weds. Each of these couples brought their own learning experiences for me because they were all new to me. I had to step up to the plate, give direction, find that (hopefully) rad pose and offer a sense of security. All challenging and oh-so-worth it.
The value in the workshop is priceless both from Jon’s “open book” approach and for all the friends you’ll make. There’s a private Facebook page that is both downright hilarious and utterly informational. Then there’s the private forum – yup, tons of extra resources and goodies. Remember, this workshop goes on for as long as you want.
The after hours are something else entirely. I won’t bore folks with this story but you will like spam musubi at the end of a FIND workshop. Guaranteed.
What were my takeaways? Too many. To this day I find an incredible amount of information, support, and motivation by staying in touch with other FINDers. I walked away with a totally new outlook on how I want to approach my 2012 and what I want to accomplish with my photography and thus far, the wheels are rolling.
Lastly, I have had some friends and other photographers ask “why would I take a portrait/wedding/family/lifestyle film-based workshop?” It’s a great question. What if you didn’t do any of the above? Then you’re the perfect candidate for a FIND workshop because it’s taking you out of your area of comfort, making your head spin, and spitting you out with a new sense of accomplishment. Even if you don’t continue in any of the above fields of photography you will have learned how to shoot film, shot film, met some of the most amazing people ever, and watch Jon take down fruit punch like it’s gong out of style. Big thanks to Jon for running an amazing workshop and to Wendy Laurel for offering up her amazing home for three days to a bunch of camera and film-crazed photographers.
Create: All but one shot were taken with a Contax 645. Shot with a mixture of films including Kodak Portra 160, Porttra 400, Portra 800, Fuji 400H, and Ilford XP2. All scanned by Richard Photo Lab because they’re awesome. Yes, you read correctly, not one shot in the post was created with a digital camera. Get out there, find a used film camera (less than $100) and start to shoot the stuff. It really does look amazing.