Earlier this spring, a Virginia-based film developing company offered a unique challenge. Shoot a roll of film, mail it in, and after they developed the film, they would pick one shot out of the roll – and it could be entered in a gallery show. I blogged about it, because … yeah, I blog about stuff like that.
I packed a roll of Kodak Portra 400 into my Nikon F2S camera, slapped on my newly-acquired Helios 44-2 Petzval-modified lens, and went shooting. If all goes well, I should have some incredible film shots of various flowers – with plenty of juicy, swirly bokeh in the background.
It was just a few shots here and a few shots there – some wildflowers in Green Island, some peonies during my 40th reunion at college, just enough to get through 36 frames. And off it went. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m out a $75 entry fee? I think I can survive that little issue. 😀
Yesterday, I received word from the pro lab. They had hundreds of submissions for this initial competition, and twenty excellent photographers were selected for their show.
You can probably surmise from the way I wrote that paragraph that I was not one of those twenty.
However, I’m not disappointed. It just means I need to prepare for next year.
At some point, I’ll pack a specific roll of (Kodak / Fuji / Efke that’s been frozen for ten years / some mystery film I picked up on eBay) into my (Pentacon Six TL / Nikon F2S / Kodak Medalist II that’s been sitting on the shelf for a while) and take some shots. Then I’ll just keep it somewhere safe (in the freezer / under my pillow / I’ll forget I still have it in the camera) until the time comes to share it with the competition.
And if I didn’t have success with this show in 2025 …
Maybe I’ll find some success in 2026. We shall see.
Chuck The Writer 
Atta boy, back on the horse!
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I’ll suggest that for the next attempt you switch things around through the roll and not shoot all the same kind of pictures with the same lens (if that is indeed what you did this time). Variety is the spice of life and all that; judges can get bored looking at ‘more of the same’ and not notice the one shot that stands out beyond the others.
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Marc – I’m thinking the same as you. What I might do is use one of my film cameras as an “I’ll take this shot, too” along with my main film camera, and then just keep that aside so that when I do send the roll in, it won’t be 36 shots of the same subject like last time. Thx.
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