Renaissance Fair - Ohio 2024

My friend Mike invited me to go do photography at an event again, this time at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. I was excited to get out and shoot of course knowing there would be plenty of fun mini events, costumes, and the environment they've created is just so great.

But when I got to his house, he met me with a surprise - the offer to go through a few rolls of film on his Canon A-1. I had never shot film before, so I was nervous to take on the proposition to use up rolls of precious film but he insisted because he wanted to see what I could do with it.

And I had a blast.

I get the desire now. I understand why people gravitate towards it - it's not just about the results, but the experience is something else. You have to take your time, set yourself up in ways you may not have had to think of when shooting digital. You have to be conscious of how much is left in the canister, which makes the decision to take each shot much more precious. Every shot is a true commitment to the moment.

And ugh, I'm such a sucker for old mechanical pieces of tech. Feeling that shutter, the tension of the advance lever, and all of those glorious sounds... it's definitely something else that just can't be replicated with digital.

Some of the below photos were shot with my digital camera, but I wanted to maintain a single place for these photos; I've separated them into two different groups below.

Film

Digital