When Josiah and Abigail approached us about shooting their wedding on film we were elated. First, because they're good friends and second, because we love film photography. We've been fortunate to be able to work with so many amazing couples, and normally we would use this space to describe how great the day and Josiah and Abigail were. I think we'll let the photographs tell that story and talk more about what it was like shooting a film wedding.
Initially, we had agreed to shoot the entire day exclusively on film, but as we started thinking about the demands of a wedding day from a photographic standpoint, we decided hybrid film and digital coverage was for the best. This was our first wedding where we had shot this much film. I think we shot somewhere around 30 rolls.
There's a lot to be said about the aesthetic of film, but you can see for yourself the difference in these images and our digital files from other weddings and engagement sessions. The thing that I appreciate about film in this wedding, is it's raw feeling. There's grain that shows in the films we chose (Kodak Portra 400 & 800 as well as Kodak Tri-X 400). The colors are incredibly true to the environment and there is so much more detail and subtlety in the shadows and highlights. We didn't get to preview each photo on the back of the camera to make sure we had grabbed focus or that we had metered correctly, which means some images didn't come back perfect. And I'm totally OK with that. I can't really describe it, but it's so much easier to appreciate the imperfections in a film photograph than it is a digital one.
Thank you Josiah and Abigail for the opportunity to try something new.
This is the part where I describe the nerdy film gear we used. We shot on a Canon EOS 3 and FTb as well as the Olympus Stylus Epic and Mju i. All 35mm film. The color film was processed at Express Photo in Brookside. The black and white film we processed ourselves using Kodak HC-110 and Ilford Rapid Fix. We scanned all the film ourselves using the Kodak Pakon F-135+.
Josiah and Abigail were married at James P. Davis Hall outside of Kansas City.
