This year marks my return to film photography. Believe it or not, the last time I took my film cameras for a walk, other than my instant Fuji cameras, was almost a year ago.
I absolutely love insties, and I love the magic process of watching a photo develop in front of my eyes, but when it comes to film, the waiting and the post processing makes me eager to see "that" photo, with"that" framing and "that" light.
It's funny that whenever I go for a shooting with my film cameras, I always have in mind some angles I want to try, or some scenes I want to photograph. Funnier is how I remember, weeks, months, and even years after I made some images, the camera, and film, the ASA and sometimes the camera settings I used for certain images.
It all makes part of the process of shooting film: you're limited to a certain number of "exps" per roll or cartridge, so you become a lot more sellective and counscious of what you're doing, and what you want it to turn out in the end.
Soon I'll be testing the new Polaroid SX70 instnt film, and I've already ordered 120mm film to shoot with my Diana and finnaly made my mind to try that family Roilleicord from the early XXth century, so I'm serious about shooting film again.
Something I noticed a couple years ago, was how I unconsciously shoot more film while I'm doing street photography, and use digital for my architectural work. I literally shift gears whenever I use my Sony Alpha or I'm having fun with my analogue camera collection, but I can't tell you exactly why.
Having said that though, this post is a little of an exception to that, once I went for a shoot at Siza Vieira's Bairro da Bouça, Porto. This was a location I've had in mind for a while now, and though it would be a perfect opportunity to take my Canon Ftb with me.
There's something right about shooting the Master Architect in film. Also it was a bit of an emotional shooting for me, since the location and the camera were practically from the same decade. I feel like it makes justice to the architecture that you capture it on film, since this work was from mid 70s. Though these photos are from 2018, it's like you're looking at Bairro da Bouça back at 1974. Or at least I like to think so.
Speaking a little bit more of Siza's work, Bairro da Bouça was part of a comunity project and construction from the Revolution Era. It was conceived as this communal neighborhood, with shared alleys, galleries and patios. It's a modern interpretation of Porto's industrial workers housing called "Ilha", characterised by the row housing with communal access.
Although it was built as an affordable housing neighborhood, and tough some of the origianl inhabitants and their descent still live there, Bairro da Bouça was such an iconic project that now it is most searched for young architects and artists that crave that — somehow lost — sence of comunity within the buzz of the city.
Bairro da Bouça appeared in several books about Siza Vieira, and was shot for many photographers, being a heart-centered, open and free access, hof style neighborhood one can visit.
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