Film Photography #2 – Oregon Coast & Guatemala

Hot off my first roll of film, my next one was my first roll through my new to me medium format camera, a Yashica Mat 124G! The Yashica is a great budget camera that I picked up off a film group on Facebook. It needed minimal work (new light meter battery & calibration as well as cleaning of oil off the shutter blades) and was quickly ready to use. Thanks Blue Moon Camera{:target="_blank"} for the repairs.

I choose the Yashica because I was drawn to TLR medium format cameras. Maybe it’s the lovely texture of medium format film combined with the beauty of a TLR camera. Yashica cameras are pretty easy to find now and are a great deal. You can pick up a decent condition one for around $100 if you’re patient and get wonderful photos for the price.

I started this roll on a weekend beach trip on February 16th – 18th 2018 and finished the roll during my surprise proposal in Guatemala{:target="_blank"}. I did quickly find TLRs to be disorientating and difficult to frame due to the shifted perspective but caught on.

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**Camera: **Yashica Mat 124G

**Film: **Pancro 400 (120)

The first things I noticed when I got this roll back is the vertical lines through ALL the photos. Was it a mistake loading the film? Was it due due to going through an X-ray machine about 5 times on the way to Guatemala? I’m still not sure but the effect is obvious.

Here is James O’Shea with his Rolleiflex.

My friends, Kyle and Jamie recently got engaged so they got the A-list treatment this weekend (including photography from 4 cameras).

SUPER blurry from playing around indoors. It took me a while to get used to the focusing mechanism.

Here is the first photo from Guatemala from the Utopia Eco Hotel near Lanquin. The common eating / bar / hangout area was a HUGE balcony looking directly into the canopy. Photos taken on February 26th – 28th, 2018.

Trouble in paradise – I got lazy with focusing. With all the autofocusing and smartphone technology I have experienced in my life, I DEFINITELY did not take proper care.

Next, we moved to Antigua, Guatemala. Photos taken February 25th and 26th, 2018. I was obviously struggling with focusing more but still had some fun with the cityscapes at night.

My bad ass partners in crime, Katy Weaver {:target="_blank"}and Marcela Pulido{:target="_blank"}.

Thanks for reading!