endless summer // abegg adventures on film

SUMMER.

This last year I purchased a Pentax K1000, because it was my old camera that I loved so much (I used to shoot whole weddings on that thing!) and because I needed a camera that was lightweight and easy to use, with the hopes that I would bring it around with me more.

Mission accomplished! I brought that little camera with me everywhere!

So this is our summer, properly documented. Technically it’s about May-September, but it was a good summer indeed. These photos are in no particular order—not chronologically, not aesthetically, and not otherwise—but they clearly portray what our lives look like on the daily. Well, you know, except the part where the person who takes all the photos (me!) also does all the daily dishes, laundry, cleaning, playing, driving, changing, reading, shopping, boo-boo-kissing, and nighty-nighting… such is the life of a mama, yes? Michael works away from home and for the most part only comes to our house on the weekends, and in the meantime Hachi’s and my “daily grind” is a lot of outdoors, a lot of quiet time, a lot of noisy time, and a lot of play; with a few cameos in there of Madeline, Michael, and a few random, dear, friends.

I did love having that camera with me all the time, and I felt super proud of that growing bag of film… until I sent it in to be developed, and then had to pay a crap ton of money to look at a crap ton of photos (totally worth it!), but then also had to learn all of my lessons all at once. The camera itself is pretty great, but ironically it was better when it didn’t have a battery in it and I was metering the photos via the ol’ Abegg Educated Guess; so there is a distinct difference to me in the photos that relied on the camera meter, and I was disappointed at how many photos I lost or that aren’t perfect to me because the camera isn’t metering correctly. That is a super annoying thing to learn after sending in like, 30+ rolls of film from a five-month span of time.

The other issue is that apparently I have been utterly spoiled all these years that I’ve been shooting medium format, because boy, what a difference!!!!!! The color for sure, but especially the quality of the photos themselves… some of these I look at and cringe, because they might as well be iphone photos! Ouch! That totally defeats the purpose of me carrying this camera around! So what I knew all along but for some reason had to re-learn, is that 35mm film works great with black & white film because it renders well with “grain” aka lower quality resolution, but otherwise I’m definitely not a fan.

So! I’m back to figuring out what to do next. Last year I bought this little camera because I wanted more “real” photos and less phone photos… but to be honest this year I think I would simply like to shoot less. This is an epiphany to me, because as a professional photographer and as the visual historian of our lives, I feel that having a camera on me at all times is my responsibility… but then I see these photos and think about our lives, and I remember that nobody really cares if I have my camera on me! I would imagine that all anyone in my life really cares about is that I’m there with them, which means that truly my only “responsibilities” are to be present, enjoy life, and to love the ones I’m with.