"The Look" – Hollywood, Los Angeles. Shot with my Contax IIIa Film Rangefinder.Â
Recently I have been shooting more street photography with my Contax IIIa Film Rangefinder. Although I still prefer digital for street photography in terms of convenience, security, as well as flexibility– I have started to learn the merits of shooting street photography with film.
I am not  film purist by any means, as I am still relatively new to shooting street photography with film. Furthermore, I have not yet processed my own film before. However if you have not tried to shoot street photography with film before, I hope this article will help inspire you to do so in order to break out of your comfort zone and continue to develop.
"Cubes" – Shot with my Contax IIIa Film Rangefinder
If you guys have been noticing, I have been experimenting with many different types of cameras including disposable cameras, my Contax IIIa Film Rangefinder, as well as my camera-phone. After doing this for the last month or so, I have re-kindled my love for shooting in the streets.
I just finished a book by Paul Arden titled “It’s Not How Good You Are, it’s How Good You Want to Be” and got blown away by one of his chapters on finding inspiration. Paul Arden worked as an advertiser for several decades, and he wrote that one way that he got re-inspired in making advertising campaigns was by using “new tools.” He clamored that how everybody in the advertising world only used felt-tipped pens to make advertising campaign layouts, which often lead to the same boring ideas. To go against the grain, he often used different tools such as brushes, pencils, charcoal, chalk, and even crayons to get new ideas.
I see this easily being relateable to street photography as well. Although I love my Canon 5D to death, it started to bore me. Everything was just too easy with it. The autofocus was quite responsive, and the images always came out great. I wanted a little more challenge– I wanted more excitement. I wanted to re-stimulate myself and my street photography experience.
Now I’ll tell you straight up that using a different camera won’t necessarily give you better images. However what it will do for you is re-inspire you by realizing certain camera’s strengths and limitations.
