This roll spans a long time. I started it during the blizzard in January of 2016 and kept going through June or July. The blizzard finally inspired me enough to grab the camera my grandfather left and snap a few pictures. More than anything, I feared the conspicuous nature of photography. You stand out. You are no longer a participant, but an observer. As a resident of New York, I generally prefer to blend in and quietly view the world around me, acting as an ant on the highway rather than an eighteen-wheeler. That consciousness distracted me from focusing on what was in the frame early on.
Further emphasizing my newb-ness is that my camera (a Nikon F3) has an exposure count up to 48, but the individual roll only went up to 24. Ouch. I've lost a bunch of photos as a result of that one. Did not learn it until about three rolls in to this experiment...
The first image is actually an important one. When I took it, I made a mental note that it would mark the beginning of my exploration of my creative side. Sure, I've casually drawn with pen and ink, or did a mega crazy insane way awesome brain dump with dry-erase markers on my giant dry-erase board, but this was different. I (eventually) took my camera out in the wild. I (eventually) felt confident with it in my hands. While many of the pictures are either 1/ poor quality or 2/ uninspired, this shot of the BQE from below will always be close to my heart.
Refreshing is the effect of fresh eyes on not-so-fresh images. The photos of snowy buildings (taken from my apartment window) are views that I've seen for nearly 1.5 years, but there's something about the color balance on some that really work. They take the mundane building behind mine (maybe that's too harsh for beautiful brownstone BedStuy) and make them old, worn, experienced-- in short, interesting. I could hardly ask for much more from my first roll of film!
Overall, I think this roll accurately reflects my abilities and my sight as a casual photographer. I'm happy to leave it behind, but it represents an important stepping stone in my growth as a Human With a Camera in My Hand.