My chat with Allion Jacobs | Photographers Create Podcast
SummaryIn this episode, Allison Jacobs discusses her love for photographing the beach and water. She explains that while she doesn't consider herself a traditional landscape photographer, she is drawn to the beach and water because it brings her peace and calmness. Allison also talks about her experimentation with different photography styles and techniques, including film soup and double exposures. She emphasizes the importance of keeping photography fun and stress-free, and shares her love for vintage cameras and the stories they hold.
Host Alison HatchTakeawaysFind inspiration in places that bring you peace and calmness.
Experiment with different photography styles and techniques to keep your work fresh and exciting.
Don't be afraid to try different cameras and film stocks to find what works best for you.
Keep photography fun and stress-free by focusing on the joy of creating and connecting with other photographers.
Chapters00:00 Introduction and Background
00:43 Being Drawn to Water and the Beach
03:41 The Solitude and Details of Beach Photography
04:36 The Influence of Impressionism in Photography
05:30 Experimenting with Different Photography Styles
08:31 The Contrast Between the Beach and the City
09:43 The Challenge of Composition and Finding Interest
11:51 Finding Inspiration Outside of Familiar Environments
13:07 Keeping Photography Fun and Stress-Free
14:51 The Stories and Connections of Vintage Cameras
15:17 The Joy of Shooting with Other Photographers
19:55 The Importance of Loving the Medium You Use
22:30 The Challenges of Shooting with Different Cameras
25:44 The Love for Different Film Stocks
28:47 The Versatility of Kodak Gold 200
34:25 Preview of the Analog Artist Retreat Photo Walk
TranscriptsAllison Jacobs (00:01.104)
Hi, Allison. Thank you so much for being on the Photographers Create podcast today. I'm super excited. It's always fun to chat with you. I always like our time together, so this should be fun.
Allison Jacobs (00:10.862)
Yes, I'm very excited. Thank you so much for asking me to be on here with you today.
Allison Jacobs (00:15.504)
Yeah, no problem. So I wanted to talk about your so you take pictures of the beach. You live in Orange County, California, and how your inspiration seems to be pulled to water. You just went to Hawaii and you took pictures there. I just recently saw your black and whites of like buildings. I was like, oh, she's stepping out of the box here. But you experiment a lot like double exposures and film soup and like a lot of play in your work. But it's not as.
portraiture, it's of more like would you consider yourself a landscape artist? Like tell me more about why you're pulled to that and those kinds of things.
Allison Jacobs (00:53.743)
I don't actually consider myself a landscape photographer in the traditional sense. I don't think that when I think of a landscape photographer, that's more defined for me, like somebody who has a tripod, maybe they're doing long exposures, they're out there at sunset, golden hour, those sort of like typical times that we think of the right, quote unquote, time to go out and shoot. And so for me, I really love getting out.
in the midday sun. I love the bright colors that gives me when I'm shooting with film. I love if I'm shooting black and white, the shadows that that gives me for that time of day. It's not that I don't love a nice sunset or golden hour light. It's just that when I'm looking at the world, I like to see a little more contrast. And I'm drawn to the beach and the water because it's somewhere that calms me.
So it's a lot of it is a way that I meditate, de -stress, bring peace to myself, peace to my life. It's a place where I can catch my breath and exhale. And so I think that just combining my love of photography and being creative with the way that I feel when I'm by water has been sort of that piece that has come together and given me this large body of
photography work that is around water.
Allison Jacobs (02:25.872)
Yeah, it seems like, what do I want to say about that? Like, I feel like for film photographers, most film photographers say that they shoot with film. One of the reasons is because it slows you down. It makes you be more present in the moment. And I've said this a million times on the podcast, but it's so true. And I can totally see how that would be a meditative thing for you walking along the beach and you like to be up high.
And you're like, I love your bright, like I love the bright colors. I love the super blue sky and all of the greens and yellows and pinks it'll bring out with color when you have full sun like that. But you're up high too. And I can see that being very contemplative. You know, lean that.
Allison Jacobs (03:11.569)
Yes, I love, I love these sort of pulled back perspective of the world. And the majority of the time that I'm shooting with my camera, I'm out wandering along, you know, South Orange County beaches and I'm by myself and I'm alone. So it is sort of a peaceful activity for me. And I think that one of the things that I'm drawn to when I'm out shooting is that sense of solitude or peace that I might.
perceived to be out there. And I also like that bird's eye view of looking down and seeing all the little people, the beach chairs, the beach umbrellas, the details. I love the composition that can be created. If I'm looking down and I can see the lifeguard truck has driven through the sand and they've created lines in the sand. And then I can wait for people to walk into a certain spot and then I shoot. So I do look for the details, even though I often am
pulled back and I have, I have a huge love for impressionism art. And I find that that pulled back look, if I'm shooting wide open, like at 1 .8, for example, it almost will give me a little bit of that dreamy sort of blurry.
appearance in my photos that reminds me a little bit of that style of art. And I actually only recently made that connection when I was doing some analyzing some of my work and realized that that's the art I'm drawn to. And I was sort of subconsciously or unintentionally recreating scenes that reminded me of that style. So that's another piece of it. It seems like it would be just walk up high and point and shoot, but that's not really my process.
There's more to it. It's more depth. More depth there.
Allison Jacobs (05:09.2)
Yeah, I can, now that you said that impressionist art is your like favorite, I can totally see it in your work. Impressionist art usually is a scene and it is colorful. And you know what I, like, I can totally see that now that you said that, your work and that connection for sure. That's awesome. I love it.
Allison Jacobs (05:30.482)
Yes. And I, and I do shoot, like you mentioned, you saw some black and white streets, more, more street. It's not, again, just like, I don't feel like I can call my beach work, landscape work. I don't think my street work is street photography, but I do really enjoy shooting on the streets, shooting people. I love architecture. I love old buildings. I love history. I love details. And I do shoot.
quite a bit of that. It's just that I don't share it on Instagram and I haven't been sharing that on Instagram. I feel like you can get kind of boxed in and people have a sense of what they're going to expect from you. And for a good while, I felt like I needed to just continue to share what I think people expected to see from me. Even though that includes things like light leaks and film soup and other ways that I experiment with film.
The colors of all of those things are the same. The subject of the photos is the same. It's just the technique that I'm using to go about capturing it is different. And recently I kind of rediscovered that love of black and white. And I've been shooting more with my Polaroid SX70 using only black and white film.
I have kind of become obsessed with HP5, black and white film for 35. And I also have had a recent sort of like, you know what? I don't really care about my Instagram consistency. I'm just gonna share what I wanna share. And if it doesn't match and people don't expect it, well, it's all still me. And I do think it all has threads through it that are my style.
I think from my perspective as the artist, I think looking at it, well, it all looks like me, but I don't know from the outside perspective if that's true or not. But that's, you know, my thinking behind it is like, I am the artist behind this. And so here we go.
Allison Jacobs (07:35.536)
No, I totally, it's definitely your work. No matter what technique you're using or what camera you're using. And I agree, Polaroid black and white is some sort of magic. Cause I have had a hard time like leaning into the Polaroid thing and black and white, black and white Polaroid is like, Ooh baby, this is awesome. So I can totally see you doing that. And HP5 is magical. I don't know if you listeners had listened to two episodes ago when I interviewed.
David Turan and he only uses HP5 on all of his work with the Hasselblad Ballet stuff is crazy amazing. It's great film stock if you haven't tried it. But I wanted to ask you, you live in such a very condensed busy city. I know that, you know, Southern California isn't known for being built up, but it's definitely built out and it's a lot of congestion and you're right on this edge. Like, and the beaches in Southern California are usually sandcliffed beaches and it's like,
that's where you're drawn to. Do you feel like that's also part of your pull to the beach and this expanse beyond, you know, out over the water when you live in such a tight, you know, very populated area?
Allison Jacobs (08:46.42)
I don't know if I've ever made that specific connection. I think that I personally am drawn to the busier beaches and the beaches that have more of the natural landscape with the cliff sides. And part of that for me is that it gives me more to photograph. It gives me more to put into my composition. I think that I have shot, like for example, on a
a beach in Malibu and where it was wide open sand and it felt very expansive. And I struggled with the water and the sand. You're looking out at the water and there's only so many ways without using really creative techniques. You can't just take a whole roll of 36 shots looking directly at the water with the sand. So for me, I do really enjoy having.
peers and restaurants and people and shops and landforms, flowers, trees, other things, because it gives me pieces of interest and it allows me to build the composition.
And it is something that I feel like I am constantly working on. I mean, that is definitely forever. And a day has been my goal to try to continue to improve. I think about things like what's in the foreground. What is my subject? What's in focus? What's in my background? What am I trying to highlight here? What's the message I'm trying to send? Because yes, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful beach. We can all agree. It's a beautiful beach, but.
You can only take a photograph of a beautiful beach so many times before, at least for me, before I start thinking, okay, what else? What else am I looking at? What else am I looking for? Where's the human element? Are there colors, patterns? You know, I really do have to challenge myself. And so when I'm out wandering, sometimes I'm in my own head processing the day, processing things that are going on in my life. And I might take two or three shots of something that catches my attention.
Allison Jacobs (10:57.462)
And other times I give myself almost an assignment and I go out and I'm shooting a certain film stock or I'm using a certain technique or I'm looking for certain things and I only shoot when I see those things or when I'm working on that technique. And so it varies. And part of that is because I think that even though I live in a beautiful area and I'm super lucky to have access to the beaches I have access to.
I'm still going to the same places every day, just like somebody who might live in New York City might feel. I think, wow, the street photography you can do in New York City, if only I could live there for six months and just shoot every day. But if I lived there for six months and shot every day and I was in the same places in New York City, I'd probably start to feel like, okay, I need to mix this up, I need to add some things in, because I just think that's the nature of it.
Allison Jacobs (11:51.344)
Absolutely. I completely agree. I'm so much more inspired when I'm outside of my natural element when we're on vacation. I want to shoot more visiting different places or going to something we don't normally go to museum or something like that. I want to shoot more versus my everyday landscape. I look at like that is a challenge even though yes, it is a beach and it's beautiful and wonderful, but it would get old for anybody. Like you said, like how can I shoot this?
different ways that's so awesome that you give yourself that goal, that assignment to change it up. How can I do something differently? My composition or color or whatever. It's a challenge to keep shooting the same thing over and over and over again and feeling inspired.
Allison Jacobs (12:37.558)
Yes, and keeping it fresh and keeping it exciting and fun for me. This is something that I want photography to bring something into my life. I don't want it to be an added stressor. We all have so many natural stressors built into our lives and just chaos and things going on. And our world moves at such a busy, fast pace that if I was adding a layer into my life that was adding to that stress and making me
unhappy, then it wouldn't be working for me the way that it does. And so I love just picking up vintage cameras, throwing a roll of film in, seeing what happens. I love changing out lenses. I love experimenting in different ways. And all of that is part of what keeps it fresh for me and keeps it fun and keeps it exciting. And here's something I look forward to. Okay. I'm really excited because I just.
Got this $12 camera from Goodwill. Let me load it up and let's go see what happens. And oftentimes those ones that are $12, like I have an Argus and I think that they, you know, they made hundreds of thousands of copies of this camera and it was such a popular camera and it's time and you can find them super cheap now. And you know, it was so fun to use it and try it out and, and feel like who else held this camera.
What other stories did they tell of their life while they were using this camera? How many people have owned this camera? How many lives has it touched? And then here I am in, you know, 2023 and I'm out on the streets shooting in downtown San Juan Capistrano with this beautiful camera. And it also is a point of conversation because I do shoot by myself quite a bit. When I have more of those unusual cameras, a lot of times people will stop me if they recognize it, if they...
understand its film. And I do the same thing. I stopped somebody recently on the pier in San Clemente because I recognized his camera was a film camera and said, oh, hey, you're shooting film. And I held up my Nikon and said, I'm shooting film too. And then we stood there and had a 20 minute conversation about film photography.
Allison Jacobs (14:51.152)
fun. That is so fun. I didn't think about that. Like, because all of our film cameras are vintage. They have all had some sort of life before they came to us. I've never thought about that. I just love that idea. Like, what has been created with this camera before me? And what did this camera do for that person before? What kind of magic did it create? What kind of pictures did it take? Like, maybe it didn't take any kind of pictures like I normally take with it. That is so I love that idea.
I love that idea, I love that connection. That is so cool. And it is true when you shoot film and you see other people shooting film, it's like this automatic friendship. It's just instant. You're like, hey, this is cool. We do both do this. And you have so much to talk about. And that's how you and I met. You and I met over Instagram. And I go to Southern California very often because I have family there and we're trying to transition there. And I was like, hey, let's go shoot. And you took me on a photo walk and showed me.
you know, all the beaches that you normally shoot at, which was so much fun to do that together. And I don't know, it's do you, you don't, you say you shoot by yourself a lot, but do you do it with friends very often and ever?
Allison Jacobs (16:01.305)
I will shoot with anybody who comes to town who reaches out to let me know that they're here. I will reach out to people if I see they're coming. I have met a number of Instagram photography friends when I've seen that they're vacationing somewhere nearby and I DM and say, hey, would you want to meet for a cup of coffee or do you have an hour and do you want to go shoot? I'll take you to some of my favorite beaches. I love where I live and I...
Allison Jacobs (16:06.672)
Yes! Yes.
Allison Jacobs (16:28.698)
being able to show it off to other photographers. Photographers have a different reaction to it than other people. While everybody thinks it's beautiful, there is something really fun and special about getting to take other photographers and show them those little spots that pull me in, that I gravitate to over and over again, and then having an opportunity to see what they shoot and see what they see there.
It's invigorating for me to see the results that somebody else took from the same spot that I stand all the time. And it gives me new ideas and it's just, it's just fun.
Allison Jacobs (17:13.424)
Yeah, it was super fun. We've shot together a couple of times and it was super fun. Cause I don't normally shoot the way you do, but it's pulled me more into that. Like you're not landscape, whatever genre you're going to call yourself, you know, but this like perspective, I feel like you're...
the way it's a kind of perspective. And to do that in other places where I've been has been super fun to like adapt that into my work. And yeah, it's the same beach and to see how we've looked at it differently is really fun. And to just talk film and talk, you know, just all things photography and motherhood and work and things like that and Instagram and podcasting.
Like it is, it's been, it's been super fun to chat with you about all those things. So what is your like go -to camera? I know you shoot film, but last time I was with you, you had a digital camera in your hand. Are you using that Fuji anymore? Or did you just try it out for a little bit? Do you remember? Oh, was it an icon? Oh, you dig it. Oh, that's right. It was an icon. It wasn't a Fuji. Did you like it? You sold it.
Allison Jacobs (18:22.555)
Oh, it was the Nikon. It was.
I sold it. I sold it for a loss. I couldn't love it. The reason that I wanted to try it, well, there were a couple of reasons why I wanted to try it. One was because I am consistently telling myself I'm going to get better at video. And I see people who put together beautiful videos with music and they do magical things with video. And I've probably taken...
at least five, if not more video courses over the years. And no matter how much practice I get, it's just something that doesn't click in my brain the way that I want it to. And so I had taken a class from Kim Klassen. I don't know if anybody, she's not a film photographer, but she does beautiful still life work and she has a studio and she does videos. And so I took one of her video workshops maybe a year or a year and a half ago, and that was a camera that she recommended.
And I thought, okay, I haven't bought an update. I hadn't shot with a mirrorless camera and I hadn't shot with a digital, my digital camera is a Canon Mark D2, I think. So it's 109 years old. Um, and it's, and it's, I mean, it still works. If I need a digital camera, I can pull it out, charge the battery and it, it does everything I need it to do. But I hadn't shot with a mirrorless. And so I gave this one a try and.
I also have a, I also had the opportunity to meet up with a LA photographer quite a bit who almost exclusively shoots with crop mirrorless cameras. And the Nikon that I bought was a crop. And I also haven't shot. I've only shot full frame for probably two decades. So that was also a change and.
Allison Jacobs (20:20.508)
So I met up with her and did a photo walk with her and she was giving me tips and tricks and I would come home and I would upload my work and I.
just didn't like any of it. None of it felt like me, none of it looked like me. I was shooting the way that I normally shoot. I was trying to shoot differently. Anyway, short story, I sold it. Didn't work for me.
Allison Jacobs (20:42.224)
I think it's really important to love the medium that you're working with. Like in photography, we are lucky and also cursed that there is so much tech out there to try. So many different lenses, so many different cameras from like so, so much lighting and on and on and on. It just goes on and on. And you have to like the medium that you're using and as artists, that's the same for any, in our genre, it's the same for any genre. If you're a painter, do you want...
acrylic watercolor, oil, charcoal, like there are so many different mediums. And if you're a potter, there's so many different kinds of clay. And I think that it's not that, I feel like sometimes people think that film people are trying to be snobby or elitist and it's not the case. I think it's just, that's what works. That's what feels the right thing in your hand. And it produces the kind of images that you're looking for.
And if you have a Nikon or a Canon or whatever you want to shoot with Fuji, like my son, he loves Fuji. We will not switch ever from a Fuji, which is also a crop sensor. You know, like that's what they, if you love it, don't look at anybody else. Stay just like put on your blinders and be like, this is what I love. This is what works for me. And if it's an old camera, who cares if that's what works? Like, I feel like we get into this.
I should try that, I should try that. I also feel that way in film. Like there's so many cameras to try and it's like, oh, I should try this, it would be fun. Like with the Polaroid SX70, I was like, I don't love it. And I'm trying to love it, but I don't love it. And it's like the black and white I like, but I'm just struggling with it. So I don't blame you for getting rid of it. And I'm sorry you got at a loss though. Which Nikon was it? Do you remember?
Allison Jacobs (22:30.558)
The Nikon Z FC.
Allison Jacobs (22:32.752)
I don't know that one. I don't have that one. I've got a Nikon Z5. It's like, and I use it very rarely. I use it to like take pictures of my slides, like have my film, like it's to, you know, process, but that's probably it. Anyway, okay.
Allison Jacobs (22:49.95)
Yes, yeah, and I do like, the reason I like experimenting with film cameras, yes, on one hand, having an endless number of cameras that you can try because film's been around so long. Also, it gives you the opportunity to find one that feels really good in your hand or feels really intuitive or gives you the results that you are surprised by even. So I had bought a couple of little,
Allison Jacobs (23:16.016)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (23:19.007)
plastic toy cameras from the 50s and 60s that are really fun and they shoot film that you would typically have a hard time finding like 620 film. But I have also found some websites that sell that film new, like they've re -schooled it. I don't know if that's the right term. I'm not a technical shooter, so if I said that wrong, all the people out there can message me. But they somehow are selling it and it's new, fresh film, but they're...
but they're selling the 620 format. So instead of going on Etsy, which is what I used to do and try to find one and it had expired in 1972, for example, and I would throw it in the camera and see what happened. Now I know I can use fresh film in an old camera and then I know I'm getting true results from that camera. And even if I just shoot one or two rolls in a camera like that, it still is fun to anticipate what the results are gonna be.
and see what happens. And then if I love them, then now I have a new camera that I can add into my stock to pull from if I want a certain look or a certain size film. Cause as you know, we've got, you know, six, four, five cameras, six, seven cameras, six by six cameras. You have all these different cameras that shoot different sizes and dimensions. And so for example, for me, the square format is something that I wanted to love.
I bought my first TLR, the Yashica, and I wanted to love it. And I knew that I didn't want to jump right into the most expensive line of the TLR cameras, but the Yashica has a great reputation. It's a beautiful camera. It's been around for ages. And I thought I was going to be, I don't know, Vivian Mayer and go around and take.
you know, self portraits and the reflections or something. I don't know. I don't know what I thought I was going to, it was going to make me a good street photographer. I don't know. But anyway, the, I loved the camera. I loved using it. I loved everything about it. I loved the results. What I didn't love was the six by six results. And that was just really hard for me. My brain doesn't see in the square format. Not that I couldn't practice and can we continue to get there, but I really love the six.
Allison Jacobs (25:11.712)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (25:18.768)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (25:40.544)
four five format.
And so I don't pick up the TLR very often. I had two and now I have one. Cause you have one of them now.
Allison Jacobs (25:52.528)
Because I took one I bought one off you and I love it. I absolutely love that camera I don't use it a whole lot, but I should I mean to use it more because it is a Fantastic camera and you're right. I do there's no way I was gonna jump to like a rolloflex right away There's no freaking way. I was gonna spend that kind of money and it's a fantastic little camera
Allison Jacobs (26:13.505)
Yes. And that kind of circles back to what I was saying at the beginning. It's so fun for me. I was imagining all these stories of who had this camera before me. And then now I know what I've taken with the camera. And then to get to hand it off to you, when you, one of our photo walks, when you were here in Orange County and you shot with it that day, you used it that day. And it was so fun to feel like that camera is getting a new breath of life from a new photographer. And it's, it's journey is continuing.
Allison Jacobs (26:30.864)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (26:43.329)
So I loved that.
Allison Jacobs (26:43.696)
I love that. Anytime I see a new camera, film camera, I'm like, hey, where have you been? Tell me your story. I'm gonna wanna sit with it and try to glean what it had before, kind of imagine. I love that idea. All right, I'm gonna make you do Sophie's Choice. Which camera would you pick out of all of them as your favorite?
I know, I mean.
Allison Jacobs (27:07.233)
I would probably, oh, that's so hard. I would probably go with one of my 35s because of the practicality. While I want to not lean on that, that is unfortunate. I won't say unfortunately. I can be a practical person. That is a part of my personality. And so I think about being able to have 36 frames.
Allison Jacobs (27:12.334)
Mm -hmm.
Allison Jacobs (27:30.448)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (27:36.13)
I really enjoy that. The 35s are usually smaller, more portable, easier to cart around with you all the time. So I would probably go with either my Nikon F3T or my Canon EOS 3. And I love them for different reasons. And I pick them up for different reasons. And so choosing between those two would be really, really hard. But one of those, but I, at least I narrowed it down from medium format to
Allison Jacobs (28:05.872)
You did, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. You can have two, I'll let you have two. All right, which film stock do you like? Like, cause you shoot lots of different film stocks. Which one do you like the most? Like it seems to be like film photographers end up getting in this known for a certain film stock and then they just continue to use that film stock. But you said before, you don't want to get put in a box. We've talked about this before on our film walk. I think last time was how Instagram you get put in a box.
Allison Jacobs (28:06.338)
35. Okay.
Allison Jacobs (28:32.496)
and you have to keep producing the same thing over and over again and I'm actually in that situation right now, which has been very interesting and I'm trying to write it out. We'll see how it goes. But which film stock do you like to shoot with the most?
Allison Jacobs (28:47.138)
So I really love Kodak Gold 200 for soup. That's my favorite film to soup with. I have also started to really fall in love with it for everyday shooting and that is newer for me. For a while I got stuck in the portrait 400 lane because it's just so dependable, reliable, consistent.
Allison Jacobs (28:53.904)
Good one.
Allison Jacobs (29:13.699)
I know what I'm going to get. I know how to shoot it. I know how to meter for it. I don't ever worry about it. It's not a finicky film stock. It's the stock that if somebody asks me, what should I start with? I say portrait 400 because you really can't go wrong. But I have been using the Kodak gold more just for every day. When, if you'd asked me this a year or two ago, I would have probably said portrait 400 for my everyday stuff. Kodak gold.
200 for my soup and then I really love some of the experimental film stocks Kono 100 notes Kono KONO Again, I feel like sometimes when you were reading things all the time and you never hear anybody say it I'm like, I don't know how to say that but they have one called sunstroke and it's amazing and then double double bubble jelly love Because it looks like light leaks if you're scared to if you want the look of light leaks
Allison Jacobs (30:00.88)
I've never tried that. I've never tried that one.
Yeah, it does.
Allison Jacobs (30:12.675)
but you're intimidated by the actual having to shoot the roll, reload it, open the back of your camera a bunch of times in a mostly dark space.
Allison Jacobs (30:22.289)
And you'll lose images that way too. You always lose images when you do light leaks. Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (30:27.652)
Yes, yeah. So again, just like the camera, I can't narrow it down for you, Alison, but I can tell you like, you know, yeah, for soup, for experimental film. And I just, I feel like the experimental film is kind of an easy way out of doing some of the things like light leaks, but if it's there and it's a tool you can use, then why not?
Allison Jacobs (30:43.472)
and you pay for it. Yeah. There are so many experimental film stocks. I cannot keep up. I just came across one called Hanna log. It's out of Germany and it's pre -suit roles. And I just messaged her. I was like, how does this not ruin my camera? Like you're going to have to tell me how this isn't going to remind camera because I have always said you have to do it afterwards. Cause like if you put soap in your, you know, film soup or acid, like,
Allison Jacobs (30:57.079)
Yes.
Allison Jacobs (31:12.24)
how is that not gonna just destroy your camera? So I messaged her, but it's really cool. There's so many different experimental film stocks out there. You do pay more for sure, but if you're scared, it's a great way to start. But I think Kodak Gold is so underrated. I feel like it's Ektar and Portra had a beautiful, beautiful baby. Like, because it's not as punchy as Ektar, but the blues are, you know what I mean? Like it still has that saturation of color and.
like lovely color that Ektar can do when it's done so right. And then I feel like gold is really versatile. I feel like it's super easy and its latitude is pretty decent. Like portrait 400 is too. I love Kodak Gold. I think it's such a great film stock.
Allison Jacobs (32:00.581)
And it's a little more forgiving for portraits than Ektar. I did shoot Ektar almost exclusively for, I mean, years probably, because it's like the perfect film for blue skies, sunny days, beach, colors, pop, contrast, all those things. And yet, if you don't have all those things and you don't meter right, it can be really messy. And also,
Allison Jacobs (32:03.632)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (32:08.624)
Oh gosh.
Allison Jacobs (32:20.72)
It's a mess.
Allison Jacobs (32:25.378)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (32:29.541)
While I don't share a ton of portraits, I do love taking portraits. And oftentimes there'll be one or two scattered in a roll. And so if you have Ektar loaded and you want to do a portrait of somebody, then you shoot with what you have. And then you're having to be a little more careful because of skin tones.
with Ektar and gold I think is a little more forgiving and makes it a little easier to just shoot what you have in your camera as well. So I agree with you 100%. I mean, Ektar can be beautiful and I used to push myself to only use it because I loved the results when they're spot on, they'll blow you away.
Allison Jacobs (33:03.79)
Oh, yeah.
Allison Jacobs (33:11.888)
Oh, they're so good. They're so good. But I would never shoot portraits with it. I have seen it done like Jennifer Lawrence. There's one picture of Jennifer Lawrence's is this girl in this like 40s, 50 ish polka dotted bikini on a boat and her skin looks amazing. I'm like, how is this Ektar? Ektar is not normally, you know, conducive with nice skin tones and it looks so lovely. And I like shooting with Ektar too. But if you mess it up, man.
It looks, there's no saving it. There's no saving it in post. It's toast. Like it is completely done. I under exposed one time when my kids were playing and they were flying a kite and it was just red muddied mess. It was awful. Yeah, totally, totally. So Alison, thank you so much for being here with me. I wanted to talk a little bit about you are going to be leading a photo walk.
Allison Jacobs (33:57.509)
Yes.
Allison Jacobs (34:09.136)
for the analog artist retreat. And you get to take us to all these beautiful beaches that you know of down in Southern California. It's gonna be super exciting. Do you wanna tell us a little bit about it? Do you wanna give us a little hint of where we're going? Okay.
Allison Jacobs (34:25.19)
Sure, sure. I was thinking, and I know some things are still dependent upon your planning and what you need and want for that weekend, but I love La Jolla area for being able to get a little bit of that street city, people, some cool buildings, some outdoor patios, great wall art. There are some beautiful murals on walls down there in La Jolla if you're walking around in more of the city park.
Allison Jacobs (34:32.592)
Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (34:55.271)
And then also the beaches with what we were talking about before. Some of the cliffside, some of the landscape pieces, lots of people. Some I, I, you know, I've lived here for 15 years and sea lions and seals. I don't know. I think those are sea lions. Um, one of those two animals, there's tons of them down there. And so some people really love that. Sometimes they're on this little Cove beach area and then people are trying to swim and then they're all together and.
that's entertaining, but there's a loop you can do. It kind of starts in the city and you walk down and you can get some of that city feel and then you can walk down to the beach and there's just, there's a lot of variety. So whether you love the beach and the ocean and that part of the shooting or whether you love more of walking around the beach town and the city part, there's just a little bit of both. And so that was my idea for the photo walk. Yes.
Allison Jacobs (35:47.92)
Oh, I think La Jolla is charming. Yes, La Jolla is so charming. And you're right. It has everything. And it even has like a full on hike that's like off the street that's on dirt as you go along the cliffs and it has fantastic views of the ocean and like the rock formations are super cool there. And La Jolla is just charming as can be. It's absolutely so charming if you wanted to do street. So that sounds like so much fun. I'm excited. Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (36:15.496)
Yes, yeah, so that's my idea, depending on, you know, you and I can chat more and I'm always adaptable and flexible. And I know that a lot of people are probably gonna have their own favorite film cameras that they're bringing, but you know, I will be local -ish. You know, San Diego's a 45 minute drive, as you know, you know, it's a little drive, but local -ish, so I'm not flying. And so I was thinking it would be fun. I can bring some of my...
Allison Jacobs (36:18.872)
Love it!
Allison Jacobs (36:42.952)
my different cameras down and if somebody wants to give, you know, a Holga a try, if they've never shot with one or some of the other kinds of cameras before buying it, because that's another thing too. Sometimes you shoot one roll through a camera and you know it's not the one for you. And even if they're just, and I say just loosely, a hundred dollars, it's still a hundred dollars and you've spent it. Now you have this camera that you may not use again. So I was thinking, oh, it will be fun. I can just throw a bunch of cameras in the car and if somebody has,
You know, I've got a good handful of the toy cameras, the Diana, the Holga, the Lomo Apparat. Like I have, you know, a handful of those. And so if somebody wanted to give any of those a try, the Kodak HP 35, I think that's what it's called. The one that's the cheap little plastic half -grain one. That one's a fun one. So anyway.
Allison Jacobs (37:29.936)
Oh, yeah. Yeah. That sounds like so much fun. All the toys. We're going to bring all the toys. Well, thanks, Allison. I appreciate being on today. It'll be so good to see you in a couple of weeks. But this has been lots of fun. Thank you so much. All right.
Allison Jacobs (37:35.528)
Yes. Yeah.
Allison Jacobs (37:42.055)
Yes.
Thank you, bye.
Allison Jacobs (37:46.64)
Okay, I'm gonna stop it real quick.
