I'm not one to shoot colour very much, and more so when it comes to shooting with film, however I decided with the autumn leaves out in the streets around home a few weeks ago it was the perfect time to load a roll of colour.

I was given a roll of Kodak Ektar for Christmas, so loaded this into one of my Olympus OM-1 cameras. The camera I was using doesn't have a properly working light meter, so all shots were estimated using the Sunny-16 rule.

I loaded the roll into the camera, however then wasn't able to get out and shoot it for almost a week. By the time I was able to use it most of the trees had lost their leaves, so instead I looked to photograph scenes which had a contrast of shads of green, blue and reds.

I love the final shots I took on this test roll, the colours are a bit more muted than I had expected, but that could be the time of year and light, and if I were to shoot in mid-summer under a bright sun, they may have more contrast.

I'm very keen to try shooting Ektar next time I'm travelling, as I think this could be a suitable colour film to compliment my personal style of taking travel black and white photographs.

Sample photographs

About Madeline Bowser

I've been photographing with film for what seems like forever ... well since the late 90's. I shoot both film and digital, but film is where my heart is and I get the most ongoing enjoyment from and what I enjoy sharing and teaching to others. I also travel the world hunting down old cameras and unique locations to photograph in, and exhibit and sell my travel photographs.

When out shooting film, I often get asked the questions 'can you still buy film?', 'I thought film stopped being made 10 years ago' and 'why would you want to shoot film when you can shoot digital'.

My answers are, 'yes', 'no, it didn't', and 'I also shoot digital, both have their place in my mind'.

Visit haeliophoto.com or follow me on Instagram @haeliophoto to see more of my work.

Visit photo-tours.com.au to sign up to a film photography workshop in Melbourne.

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All images remain the property of Madeline Bowser and may not be used without permission.