Here's for Hoping

Yesterday I received the news that two Hawaii-born rolls of film completed their first journey. They are safe and sound at the home of Peter and Helen in New Plymouth, NZ.

The next step, then, is for Peter and Helen to reload this film into their camera (they're only going to use one) and take 24 shots. I'm not giving them set rules on locations or subjects, so it will be a surprise when this all comes together.

I want this to be about their voices, not just me orchestrating a complicated project in locations I hold dear that I can control from afar. It's a glimpse at journey and time and place, integral parts of the human experience.

Having said that, I am still bombarding the two of them with emails about the finer details of analog/film photography and the lost concepts of aperture, shutter speed, etc. that average Joe's digital point-and-shoot doesn't address. I've said before that it is essential in this project that the negative is underexposed with each shot. Because the camera my dad was using in Hawaii did not have much manual control of settings, I'm a little nervous that by the time the film gets to me the negative will have been too exposed. To increase likelihood that something display-worthy will come out of this project, I'm asking Peter and Helen to pick up another roll of film and shoot over one of my dad's and then on the new one. That way, if the Hawaii film doesn't work, we'll at least have a story of New Zealand, Bellingham, and Abilene.

At least I'm hoping.