FILM IS NOT DEAD | the guide

its been like a whisper on the wind the last few years, "film is not dead. film is not dead...." just when you got comfortable and invested a few (or a few times 10) K into that shiny new digital gear, all of the sudden you realize, to your chagrin, the cat came back. in fact, it never went away. film is the strking old tabby with at least 9 lives, and her orange fur is more vibrant and attractive than ever.

why? there are a lively handful who did their part: jose villa, elizabeth messina, and lisa leftkowitz among others, all remained true to their first love, film. even when the digital mistress flounced her fanciest tricks, their loyalty to the art of film held strong. there was also that other guy--the jolly, and rather outspoken one, described as a "racial chameleon," by some (my personal favorite of his avatars being that of a filipino santa claus) --he's  the one who took film from the level of artform to the level of all things awesome, who grew it from a medium into a lifestyle and drew like-minded souls to him from all around the globe--the king of film, the papa of an entire FIND (film is not dead) family, and the tabby cat's owner, jonathan canlas.

in the mouth of canlas the whisper on the wind, became a shout from the rooftops, "FILM IS NOT DEAD! FILM IS NOT DEEAAAAAD!" and more and more common folk tried to climb up on the roof with him.

but there was a little problem.

they had no real instructions on how to climb. canlas had forged the path, but it was hard for those of us down below to see, and to a dedicated family man like canlas, time was precious. answering thousands of questions on his formspring page was not enough. holding FIND workshop all over the US and even outside of the US was still not enough to meet the growing demand of those wanting to learn how to properly shoot film. Those who had caught the passion for film like a fast spreading disease, but had no knowledge to cure them. So now, in response - canlas took things one. step. further.

He wrote a freaking all inclusive guide to shooting film.

And its pretty freaking sweet.

And its pretty amazingly easy to understand, even if you don't even know enough about to film to spell it.

And most amazingly, this said "film guide," is available to you, me and the entire world, for pretty gosh darn cheap.

warm fuzzy, warm fuzzy, warm fuzzy.

the filipino santa just dropped off christmas in the best possible way.

say what? you thought film was too intimidating, too inaccessible, too difficult to understand? uh uh. not anymore friends. canlas tells you absolutely everything you need to know IN just under 100 pages. my personal favorite part? the BEE-YOOOT--I-FUL imagery and examples all throughout. no more trying to decode those old books from the seventies---  canlas pours out all of his passion, all the best parts of his down to earth self in one cohesive guide to help you chart the course.

perhaps most respectable about the entire film guide, is that it is tangible proof canlas is in it for the love of the game. ie he doesn't want to keep film to himself. he wants you to know about it, love it, and use it (properly) too. so buy up this guide and do it do it do it. you won't be sorry you did.

FIND Guide

(click on the text "learn to shoot film," to get your very own, shiny, new film guide!)

p.s. in the interest of full disclosure, i jumped, double gainor backflipped, at the chance to help promote this guide, and if you do buy, it, i do make a few bucks.

happy weekend and simple session update

well, for once in my life i have some legit, non work related weekend plans! i am heading out the door in just a few for some super serious, eternally awesome MOORE women (aka my mom, sister, and 4 sister in laws) F U N. we are going off the grid,yo (or something) and things could get a little cuh-razy (read: snowshoes will be involved). before i go though, i wanted to update you all on the simple sessions. the first six slots just flew off the metaphorical yan shelves, but i have plenty of normal priced slots left. think 6 spots every wednesday from now until the end of TIIIIIME. and really you should sign up because 1. its so simple 2. kids frequently lose it after a half hour anyway, and 3. its going to be a ball.

so, you, me simple sessions, let's make it happen. in the mean time, have an amazing (most over used word ever) astounding weekend. xo, yan

who are you?

i'm that girl, with the quiet voice that gets swallowed in big places. really. don't bother talking to me on a bus or at a concert, i try and try to make myself heard, truly, i make jazz hands with my vocal chords, which is really hard to do by the way.  despite all my attempts at projecting, i still find myself on the receiving end of too many blank, "oh, uh huh's..." i like pretty things. flowers, sunsets, dresses with light shining through, pretty things almost every one likes. but just as much, i like things that are different, yes, sometimes i even like them because they are different. and in my younger years, i was always on a race to find, wear, listen to, read, the newest, different thing. i will take credit for bell bottoms sweeping junior high fashion, and the capri pants becoming the  plague of freshman year.

i'm normal and i'm not normal. i'm a vegetarian in theory but no longer practice. and though this post is starting to take on a tone far too akin to an alanis morisette song for my comfort, i somehow want people to know these things about me. i'm an extroverted introvert.

sometimes i want to be alone. sometimes i have trouble focusing. you should insert "a lot of times," for both of the 'sometimes,' in the prior two sentences-- and sometimes, well, just once really, i allowed my blog to go practically silent for a year, despite valiant proclamations that i would do just the opposite.

so this time around, no promises. just secret hopes and goals, and a better understanding of who i am and what really matters.

so far in life i've been a diana (to my teachers), anna (to my family), d (to my teammates), and more. though part of me quietly fears that the choice of who i'll be is too hard to consciously make,  this year i've decided i'm a yan. did you know uncle marty gave that nickname to me?  i even write 'yan,' on my water cup that i place beside the kitchen sink.

a yan (rhymes with can),  is always a wife and mother first. a yan shoots digital with the hopes of transitioning to shooting mostly or all film in the near future. a yan shoots with her heart, and her style, and sometimes falls short, even after her best efforts. a yan believes experimentation is necessary for  growth. a yan isn't in it for the comments. a yan isn't worried too much about who, where, or if when its been done before, but is more concerned with following her own voice. a yan is scared and excited to announce new things, but always, always hopeful. a yan, will now abruptly stop referring to herself in third person, so if i've lost you in this last paragraph, will you forgive me now?

further, will you allow me to share a set of pictures almost entirely unrelated to everything i've written up to this point? i kept thing, oh, i'll cleverly connect the two at some point, but that point got lost in my run on sentences i think. so here are my second set of images from jonathan canlas's FILM IS NOT DEAD workshop. thanks to the awesome models, who were real people, just like you, and a yan, i mean  me.

FILM IS NOT DEAD WORKSHOP REVIEW | drew and elise

drew and elise shot on the first day of the workshop with a contax g2 and 35 mm fuji 400H scanned at richard photo lab

let's go back to the start. wppi vegas. march 2010. the last platform class uncle marty and i attended was jonathan canlas. i'd be shocked if you haven't heard of him, and you haven't do yourself a favor, click on that link and get to know one of the most passionate and generous photographers in the biz. we all know what wppi is. amazing? yes. trying to get every photographer in the world to spend as much money as possible? yes yes yes. inspiring? of course. almost as schmoozy as the city it takes place in (vegas)? uh---yeah.

but

as soon as we set foot in the smallish, carpeted side room where canlas was presenting, everything felt DIFFERENT. familiar. alive. relatable -- its taken me awhile to figure out how that room felt so magically like home--but i've since realized its because canlas brings nothing but good old fashioned earnestness and passion to the table, and he attracts people after the same good stuff. never mind that there were plenty of industry giants gathered to hear canlas present (chris and sarah rhoads, cough, jose villa, cough, cough...) i'm telling you the room had this warmth and almost tangible feeling of---oh crap, i don't know, DOWN TO EARTHNESS.

i was beside myself.

and though this post is supposed to be about jonathan canlas's FIND workshop, not his wppi presentation, i had to tell you about it, because somewhere towards the end, after i had laughed and cried, canlas announced he was gong to pick the "best designed," of the business cards that had been collected from everyone in the room. the owner of the winning card would be awarded a free seat to the San Diego FILM IS NOT DEAD workshop that summer. i held my breath, my heart sped up, i knew something was going to happen, i KNEW it,  and.....he didn't pick our card. instead he held up sarah rhoads" gorgeous letter pressed business card, and the room cheered.

duh.

but a few minutes later, he did the whole song and dance again, with the help of his FINDER team. this time the seat was to FIND park city, a mere 45 minute drive from my home. i tried to seem unconcerned with what was happening, but couldn't keep my eyes from wandering to the front of the room where i saw a special someone tap a card (i coudn't tell who it belonged to) and say, " what about this one..."

you know what's coming next. canlas held up the card and asked who it belonged to. my 6 month pregnant self stood up to stutter and claim it while uncle marty beamed beside me and that was that.

but what i haven't told you yet is how for the past few months i'd been taken with the work of brilliant artists like canlas, elizabeth messina and jose villa --- and how i hadn't known but i realized at wppi that they were all film shooters. when i realized this i thought that maybe i should try shooting film, but then it seemed too out of reach, too challenging. i haven't told you how i'd been so unsatisfied with the look of my own work for so long that i was becoming frustrated and depressed on a daily basis. how the artist part of me felt empty and disappointed without knowing why.

fast forward a handful of months to october 2010. i hadn't bought a film camera yet. i was buried in post processing. taking too long trying to emulate the look of film. i was burnt out, and down on my work--tired from a busy wedding season. so tired from spending so much time away from my 3 lovelies, that i even considered attending a later FIND installment. but hadn't i waited for long enough? hadn't i already established this in my mind as meant to be?

so i went. unprepared and a little timid, but i went. and film is not dead park city 2010 RUINED MY LIFE. because i fell in love. because i felt the thrill of shooting again using a medium i am not currently outfitted to use.  because i was in the moment as i shot, not in the moment and also in the moment's aftermath with my LCD screen. because jon's wife, callie fed me delicious food that i still think about but that i can't access anywhere else. because i didn't only fall in love, i became OBSESSED with film, and its all i've been able to think about since.

i've seen a lot of buzz lately on the subject of film vs digital and how they're both simply tools and its all about the artist who uses them. and i agree with that stance. i really do. plus, i'm still shooting digital. its what i know at a professional level---but i'm learning with f i l m. and the more i learn, the more i realize that there is something about the look and range and depth of it that makes film my artistic soul mate.

of course, its not just the look, its the artist it allows me to be. some folks claim digital is a crutch---well, i think film might be mine. in that it FORCES me to slow down. to be in the moment, to compose every image with intent and purpose. of course one can do all of these things with digital, but let me tell you, i've been known cheat in a major way. continuous shooting mode anyone? snap snap, snap snap, snap --- its all deletable, i'll dig my way to the moment----   film doesn't let you cheat.and if you try, um, its expensive.

so, yes, thus far, i know i've been all, "film this, and film that," but the funny thing about the FILM IS NOT DEAD workshop, is its not just about film. yes it gives you just about every resource you need to successfully shoot film, but more than that, its a culture of people interested in refining their artistic vision. at the heart of that culture is papa canlas, shouting at you to stop looking at other people's work, to get out and shoot personal projects, to figure out what you want to say with your own voice. i don't care who you are, where you've been, or how much success you've enjoyed, EVERYONE needs that reminder, that push, that example of greatness. and it doesn't hurt that he'll share every business "secret," he's discovered along the way.

in conclusion,

do you ever have that feeling that saying thank you won't be enough? so you don't know what to say and you almost end up not saying anything at all? shamefully, this happens too much to me, and almost happened again as its been months since the workshop, and i am just now writing this post. so jon, and finders across the world, (yes world)? flat out, unreal, i kid you not,  thanks.

p.s. head to jon's blog as just today he posted a down-loadable pdf of what's in his bag!