Gabriel Ponzanelli Photography

City Skyline; Sydney, Australia; 2007 ©Gabriel Ponzanelli

For some bizarre reason, couple of years ago I got into shooting with film again just for fun. I pulled out my very old Holga and shot a few rolls of film, which I really enjoyed and have been doing somewhat consistently since. But I felt I needed a different toy. I shot a single roll with my old Nikon F-401x, but that just felt like going back in time with no real benefit. So I decided to go on ebay and find myself an old rangefinder. I had never really used one and have always been fascinated by Leicas (one day I'll buy one... I think). Anyway, after buying a dozen or so cameras in the $20 to $40 range with mixed results I finally got one that's become my absolute favourite film camera, the Konica C35 Automatic. 

That little camera has a very sharp 38mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8, a great combo for street photography. The camera is completely automatic, so all you do is literally point and shoot (well, and focus). I find the simplicity of this, and the fact that you cannot see what you've shot until after the film is processed, makes me shoot very differently. I tend to slow down and pay more attention to the framing and composition. I tend to visualize the shot before I even look through the viewfinder. With digital I sometimes tend to shoot a billion frames at a time from every possible angle just because I can without really stopping to consider what's the one best shot. It's really cool that using film again is allowing me to think more about the photograph I'm taking.