one year of analog.

Sadly, as you can say, I am not taking part in this year's August Break, but head over to Katie's or Evelyn's to follow their August journeys. If you're taking part in this challenge and I don't know about you yet, please comment below and tell me! I would love to follow your posts.

Photography has grown on me, and there is no better time for low iso photographing than summer. It's a curious case of how after a year's time I am still more than happy with what I am shooting with. For those of you who never took any interest in that, I am an owner of Praktica MTL 3, which was an exceptionally cheap find on Ebay last summer. At first, I of course opted for Zenit, but had some unpleasant experience with it, so I gave up.  Over the year I looked for different options, considering a Canonet, Olympus Trip, and many other. 

I had a quick fling with Zenit ET, which broke down as well, and due to econominal reasons (repair being far more pricey than the camera itself) it just collects dust at this point. Maybe it's because of lack of Flea Markets that I could attend and find something analog for myself. I also bought a second hand Lomo Fisheye No 2. I only shot two rolls with it so far, but I guess it's fun and this year I am giving it to my sister, when she goes on her honeymoon, so she can show you a little of that trip and I don't need to worry that she will break it or something like that.

I own only two lenses and most of the time I find that one is enough. I am completely in love with my 58mm Helios 44-2. Its bokeh is to die for, it's perfect for my guilty pleasure of shooting food and I believe you cannot go wrong with that lens. With some good light, it produces high quality, sharp images. 

During winter I bought a 28mm Helios lens. I went with Helios because I was very happy with the results 44-2 gave me, and I found that it was a pretty cheap choice. I don't plan to go professional with photography, therefore I don't want to spend hundreds of $ buying equipment. 28mm is alright, nothing which stole my heart though. It makes you feel like you have stepped out a little bit, and for once in awhile it's really refreshing to own such perspective.

Some time after that, around March, I looked for a more macro lens, but once again, not wanting to spend too much money, I gave in and decided to try an alternative - macro rings. I got three. And for now I am only shooting with the smallest close up :)

People still find it hard to photograph me in focus, and I cannot blame them. Focusing is the hardest thing they have to approach when using a manual camera. But over the year I stumbled upon bigger problems than wrong focusing. It was discouraging at first, and I found myself wondering whether analog photography was for me, but I never gave up and now I feel like it was the right thing to do. Analog brings me incredible fun. 

I have tried a variety of films, but my journey has just began. My most loved ones are Fuji Superia 200 (so mainstream, I know), Fuji X-tra 400, Agfa Vista, Kodak Ultramax, but I have many others that I highly doubt I could give up on. Only recently I made more brave choices when buying film. I finally bought a Ferrania Solaris, and as a gift I received Fujicolor Pro 400H, which I saved up for Budapest and I cannot wait to finally use! You can check out the films I have tried already in the sidebar :)

What are your analog choices? What film/camera do you crave at this point? Let me know :)