Top 10 Film and Digital Pictures of 2023
If 2022 was the year I got back into photography, 2023 was the year I got into film photography for the first time. Outside some barely-remembered experience with disposable cameras back in high school, I hadn’t really dabbled in the film world until I got a Kodak Ektar H35 for Christmas and then purchased a Canon AE-1 for myself in early 2023. From there I played around with different film stocks and enjoyed the opportunity to scan almost all of my film from the year after getting a light box for this Christmas.
Of course I also continued to take digital pictures, though those were primarily of animals since I still only have a 50mm lens for my film camera while I use a 70-230mm lens for my Fuji XS-10. So if you want some more animal shots, scroll down to that list.
As always, some of my best shots this year won’t make this list because they’re of my friends’ kid, and they don’t want them to be put out on the internet like that. Just trust me, they’re great pictures.
Film Pictures
Film # 10:
Spring Bloom
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
As you will be able to tell throughout this list, I really love the colors and light halation that the highlights can sometimes have on Cinestill 400D film. I’ve tried to take dozens of pictures of this general scene but this is the most successful I think for that bit of red bloom on the flower and the curves in the foreground and background.
Film # 9: Spiky
Kodak Ektar H35, Cinestill BWXX
The only picture from my Ektar H35, which is a half-frame camera with a plastic lens that doesn’t exactly provide sharp images. But I’ve grown to really love the ease of use (no settings) and the somewhat dreamy vibes that come from the pictures you can get with it. I’ve since “relegated” it to using the cheapest film I can get for it and just carrying it around most places for snapshots of friends and daily stuff, but back during the brief moment when it was my only option I really dug what I could get out of such a simple machine.
Film # 8: Late Summer Growth
Canon AE-1, Kodak Gold 200
Film has me looking for the light much more than I did with digital photography, and this is a great example of what that can produce if the conditions are right. In this case, late afternoon in late summer which brings out the ahem gold in this shot. I also love how you can see the holes eaten through the leafs. Good stuff.
Film # 7: Dinner Time
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
I drive by this wide open grazing space for these University-owned cows every day and finally the conditions were right for the shot I wanted to get of them. There’s just enough in the sky for it to not be entirely bland, and I really love the browns here. If you look closely the cows do have some definition to them, but I also like them being largely silhouettes. I have a couple other shots where the cows fill the frame more, but again I like the empty space on the left of the frame.
Film # 6: Roofing
Canon AE-1, Kodak Gold 200
This is the ceiling of the Columbus Museum of Art on a late winter afternoon. There’s so much I love here. The greens, the blues, the lines, the deep shadows in the bottom right corner. I know some people are against cropping film images, but I’m still in love with the 6x7 aspect ratio and I don’t nearly have the cash to buy a camera with that native aspect ratio, so I’m gonna fake it. Sue me.
Film # 5: Spectators
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
Happened to have a roll of one of my favorite stocks in on the first nice day of the spring and caught this beautiful moment on camera. The back end of the ‘Shoe is really great and has a lot of geometry going on. Then there’s the pickup game happening (more on that later), but what really makes this one work are the two people sitting on the grass alternately watching the game and looking at their phones. It’s campus life in a moment.
Film # 4: Turn Around
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
This is the hottest place on campus, literally. The stairwell gets all the afternoon sun and it’s 5 stories tall so there’s a lot of light baking it in the warmer months. I braved the heat for this picture, which has so much fun line stuff going on. There’s a hint of red to the bricks from Cinestill’s halation and I like that I was able to get the railing itself out of focus in the foreground even as it looks like it could be the subject. I also really love the shape of the metal twisting to keep going down the stairs.
Film # 3: Sunlit
Canon AE-1, Kodak Portra 400
Took me a while to get comfortable with using a film camera enough to start using some more expensive stocks. This was the very end of a roll of Portra 400 that I used during an afternoon stroll through the botany area of OSU’s main campus. I don’t exactly know what kinds of plants these are, but I do know that I love the small sliver of late afternoon sunlight illuminating the flowers and a strip of the big tree behind them. I also love how my home scanning setup can allow me to keep as much detail of the shadows as I did here. It’s a picture that rewards deeper looks, if I may be so bold as to say so.
Film # 2: Jump Shot
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
Sometimes you plan stuff out and sometimes you get lucky. This was definitely the latter. On the same day as the other basketball shot I tried out some action shots. You don’t have the time to plan things out or take bajillions of pictures when working with film, so I feel incredibly lucky that I got this picture out of my experimentation. Who cares if the horizon isn’t level? Who cares if the ball isn’t in the shot? Who cares if it might have been better if I was a few steps to the left so I could get the guy contesting the shot? I still love this. It feels so urgent to me.
Film # 1: Walking By
Canon AE-1, Cinestill 400D
Ok, I know I have a lot of shots of OSU’s campus this year but since I am (hopefully) leaving here soon, you’ll have to indulge me. Three people looking in different directions, the three pillars holding up the jutting top flor of the architecture building, the bright light and shadows, the slight red halation of the white building elements and walkway. This picture has everything.
Digital Pictures
Digital # 10: Chillin’
Cropped this one to emulate a widescreen film aspect ratio because there was so much information in the middle of the photo that I wanted to focus on. I like all the people out on a nice spring day, enjoying the weather and each other. Spot the person relaxing the most!
Digital # 9: On the Prowl
Went to the Columbus Zoo when a friend visited in the fall, and the rarely-active tigers had at least one representative who you could hear all the way across the park calling for other tigers. She’s beautiful, I love the colors and the shadows on her face and body as well. Absolutely terrifying, but beautiful nevertheless.
Digital # 8: Fun Guys
On one of my trips out to the incredible Columbus Metro Parks I spotted this rotting wood filled with life. There’s the obvious fungi, but also the moss in the background and then a little red friend almost exactly in the center if you look close enough.
Digital # 7: Body Guards
These three were having fun splashing around in the little water area of their exhibit but soon enough it was time to go, and the little 2(ish) year old elephant was nicely but firmly guided back into the indoor part of their territory. More on that later.
Digital # 6: Naptus Interruptus
The big kitty just wanted to sleep but some jerks were being loud nearby. So it lifted its heavy head and stared their way. Determining they weren’t worth the bother of killing, it soon rested its head again and went back to sleep. This is a true story.
Digital # 5: Sneaky
The Columbus Zoo has a clever set up for their large African Plains area. The lions can’t get over to the area where the herbivores live but it sure looks like one continuous space from the zoo goer’s perspective. It kinda makes the lions look lazy, but I wouldn’t tell him that, would you?
Digital # 4: Fall Train
Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens has a really cool, quite large outdoor model train setup designed by Paul Busse which I’ve enjoyed exploring the times I’ve gone there in good weather. This time, though, was the best, as the leaves had turned but not yet fallen and so, with the help of an elevated track that connects the smaller sections of the exhibit, I was able to get this picture that I love so much.
Digital # 3: Lookout
It was a pretty hot day and there weren’t many animals outdoors who could have gone inside a more temperate enclosure as this guy could have. In fact, the Gibbon came out only briefly while I was hanging out in the shade. It swung around the outdoor area until it landed here, at the top spot. I got a few great pics of it here, but this one is my favorite. The backlighting really emphasizes how fluffy it is!
Digital # 2: Move Along
Sometimes kids need a little push in the butt to get where they need to go.
Digital # 1: Playtime
One of my favorite things about animals is seeing behavior that is common across species. Here this young gorilla plays with a cardboard box like my cat might, or like a small human child. It was playing in a spot that was hard to see, so I had to crouch down and shoot through a tunnel in a hill to get this moment, but it was worth it.
