If I were only to give you one piece of advice it would be…
Imagine the autumn sunlight, the rich colours of the leaves and the movement of time as it moves through to the winter. A time to start reflecting on the year and letting go of what has been so you can grow in newer ways.
Shooting with film is in essence a slowing of time and appreciating that which is around you. Autumn is a perfect time to shoot and of course choosing the perfect film to go with it too. None is better than Kodak Ektar 100 whose vibrant colours capture the best of this time of year. The emulsion captures the colours in their full glory from the blues of the skies to the yellows on the leaves. Be in no doubt that you will capture some wonderfully crisp images.
Combined with the square format on the Yashica Mat 124G I had a play with this exploring a little garden in Hampstead, England. On reflection this was an appropriate choice to shoot with this film and now I can see why film photographers talk about shooting this film in landscapes. It clearly captures the colours and tones with razor sharpness. The images come out super saturated and you may be left wondering how when its not even slide film!
Just a side step word of caution here. If it is your first time shooting with any film camera be prepared for things to go wrong. When shooting for the first time with this Yashica I accidentally pressed the shutter too early or hadn’t quite adjusted the frame correctly. You may want to spend a little more time than I did and get to know your camera. This is especially more important when you may have bought this online and it may have had many owners before who perhaps didn't quite look after it in the same way you may do.
Being an ISO 100 film, I would advise using a light meter when you go to shoot with this film. Regardless of whether you are shooting with 35mm or 120mm you will want to make sure that you have the best of each frame. The tonality of the images will blow you away and you may regret shooting without a solid light meter such as the Sekonic L35.
Perhaps one of the downside to this stock is that it has a narrow exposure latitude which means that you will need lots of light to be able to capture the images to its best on this film. I am yet to try using this film in a studio however you may find this a fun experiment if you have a good grasp of lighting your subject evenly. On some of the images I have taken here you can see that it does struggle with shadows on occasions. That said, one shoot is not a tangible metric to judge any film stock by!
If I were only to give you one piece of advice it would be: shoot it in lots of light. You may want to experiment with this film in different conditions before you settle working on a project with it. Remember that if you are struggling for ideas, pick a roll whether it is Ektar or any other film stock and get out and shoot without thought to see what you gravitate towards and capture. Then double down and keep at it, the rest will figure itself out.