Frugal Film Project January 2025 - First Snow of the Year
Our first snowfall of 2025 happened the night of January 2nd, so it was fitting that my first roll of film for the year, and my first roll of film for the 2025 Frugal Film Project, was spent documenting it.
Canonet QL19 GIII - a 1970’s era rangefinder camera with 45mm f/1.9 lens. Who needs a Leica?
I woke up early the morning of the 3rd and loaded my Canonet QL19 with a roll of Fujicolor 400 film. After a few cups of coffee and watching the light slowly increase, I hopped in the Pathfinder and drove just up the road from my house to Sugarcreek MetroPark to capture the snow and golden hour light. I stopped at Bill Yeck Park along the way, but found that the parking lot was a sheet of ice - I don’t think they salted ahead of the snow. It was so bad that I could barely keep the truck from sliding off into the grass. Once stopped I tried to get out to get some images, but the ice was so bad I decided that I’d do my best to keep Renee from getting a call from the ER. I inched the truck out of the parking lot and went to my original intended destination at Sugarcreek.
Five Rivers MetroParks always does such a nice job maintaining their parks systems, and Sugarcreek was no exception. The parking lot was ice free, and I was the second car in the park that morning. The snow was sticking to the trees, and the sky was starting to light up with some great color ahead of the sun breaking the horizon.
I grabbed the Canonet, my tripod, and cable release and hit a few areas just inside the park. The light was so amazing I didn’t want to waste time walking any deeper into the park. The prairie area near the front of the park, and the surrounding woods, were perfect subjects with the freshly fallen snow and light popping off. Plus, the wind was starting to really pick up, so not only was the light a priority - I had to get some images before the wind removed the snow from the plants and trees.
One important tip for anyone who has never shot snow before - do not believe what your light meter says for proper exposure. I have learned over the years, the hard way, that your camera’s light meter will read and set the snow as 18% neutral grey, which means when you see the photos later, the snow is usually a grey mess and not bright white. So I tend to overexpose by 2 stops, maybe more depending on the scene.
As usual, that method worked great on this occasion.
Below are some of my favorite images from the morning. Click on the first image below to open in a lightbox and scroll through them.
I developed and scanned my images the next morning, and I was greatly surprised at the dynamic range and colors that the Canonet lens captured in conjunction with the FujiColor 400 film.
Also, these images concreted my suspicions about the current FujiColor 400 film - that it is more-than-likely a rebranded Kodak film. Probably Ultramax 400. I’ve shot with the original Fuji X-tra Superior 400 that this film replaced, and that film, true to most Fuji films, leaned toward the cool side with pronounced blue and green tones. These images here are warm and look way more like the Kodak color palette. The fact that the rolls say “Made in USA” and not Japan is also proof that, I think, Fuji is having Kodak make and rebrand it for them. Fuji announced recently that they would be ramping up film production once again, so maybe this will change? Anyway, I still have several rolls of the “old” Fuji 400 so I may do a comparison in the coming months.
All-in-all, I’d say that this was a great start to my 2025 Frugal Film Project. I’m looking forward to shooting this combo the rest of the year and trying different techniques and themes with it.
Remember, its not about the price of your gear - you can still get great results with cheap cameras and film if you know what you are doing and put a little effort into it. That’s what the FFP is all about! If you want to learn more about the FFP, check out their FaceBook group here. Why not join in and shoot with us?
As always, thanks so much for reading!
Jeremy
