I've always been interested in people's stories which is probably why I love research and history. When I was younger I filled journals and notebooks with all kinds of stories and loved to read everything and anything. Another creative form that beautifully captures our own unique story are the photographs from our life.
My love for photography and journaling came from my Dad. My Dad is an amazing writer and was always behind the camera when we were young. Recently he's been scanning old slides and sending us the digital images. Do you remember the old 35mm slides!!!
I have really wonderful memories of when my family would gather in the living room for an evening slideshow and often my Dad would click through the slides to music. It was so magical to watch! Like a movie just about us.
Every day I realize more and more the amazing power of capturing and telling stories through photography. This video by Kelly Corrigan says it so beautifully, how photographs can lockdown life's everyday moments so you can remember them forever. As she say's, photos "roll again like a movie in my mind".
When I entered my 20's and 30's I felt I had better things to do than journaling or documenting life, after all I was just too busy living it...or at least I thought. It wasn't until shortly after my girls where born that I realized how important it was to capture what is happening today before it is lost forever.
It already feels like forever ago my babies were just that, babies. They grow up so quickly and I don't want to forget a thing. For me, life is all about the memories we make and one of the biggest enjoyments in life is being able to look back on those memories and enjoy them all over again like it was yesterday.
I think this is why I'm loving the look of film in my photographs, it reminds me of the photos of when I was a kid. Call it nostalgia, but for me the look of film has such a beautiful feel and holds such warm memories. Who knows, maybe I'll even invest in a film camera one day. :-) But until than here's how I'm getting that "film" look with my digital camera.
First, I do all my editing in Lightroom. I do have Photoshop, but for this look I just use Lightroom. Before I had a little preset-help (more on that later), I would do little tricks like warming up my white balance and increasing the grain. I then purchased two presets sets that do all the work for me with very little tweaking!
Visco Supply Co. offers these incrediable Lightroom presets made specifically for your Canon or Nikon camera and allows you to select your favourite film from Kodak to Fuji. It's incrediably easy to use and gives your digital images the look of film instantly.
I also own Kelly Hatcher's colour and BW presets. Kelly is an incrediable photographer and her presets will give your photos the mood and depth of film.
Wow, that was kind of a long post. Sorry about that, but I just had to share. Before I sign off for today I have one more thing to share with you. Deb Schwedhelm, another amazing photographer at capturing the specialness of everyday, wrote a truly wonderful post about "is there ever a perfect time to have photographs taken of your family". This post will touch your heart and if you didn't already feel how presious time is, well, this is one post to read. Titled: is there a perfect time?.
Have a wonderful day and don't forget to take a few pics!
