As much as I love living in NYC, I was feeling the need to get out in the open somewhere and shoot something for myself for a change. I called up some model friends, grabbed Melinda my stylist, and Holt for a little assistance and flew out to LA for a little desert road trip adventure. My goal was to shoot film for the whole test, and shoot whatever comes to mind. We drove up through Lancaster, through Barstow, and off to Vegas over 3 days. What a great trip!

Seeing Differently: I’m really realizing how shooting film really makes you think and see in a completely different way. You need to have the confidence that you are getting the shots you want without being able to see it right there. Trust the light meter, it’s usually right. (I use a handheld Sekonic). Since the cost of film and the processing is so freaking expensive, you edit more in your head before even taking a shot, and when you do take the shot you really think about what you’re shooting. I think it’s a great exercise to push the default of what you shoot. I actually had to refrain a little from pulling the MKIII dig out of the bag, but I ended up with some great and different photos. Shoot a few rolls of film even for a look of your shoot. Challenge yourself not to touch the digital.

I was really going for a raw gritty feeling on this. Something a little different than the normal nickonken style, but yet it still falls within who I am. Pretty excited about the results. I shot the Contax G2 with the 45mm lens, and 25 rolls of Kodak 400VC with a lil NC sprinkled in.

Check out the full story here: http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/DesertFreedom/

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