tanzania : on film

posted by Ben Harrison

yes … you read that right … I shot about 18 rolls of 120/220 film when I was in Tanzania. I shot them with my Mamiya 645 medium format camera, which I am falling in LOVE with! Some of you may be wondering why I would shoot film in Africa (because of the somewhat inconvenient nature) … and it really just boils down to the fact that I love the intentionality and look of film. With our psychosomatic image laden, instant gratification culture, I have to admit that film was a nice release. It forces the photographer to slow down and become more intentional with each exposure (as each exposure translates to $). I’m not saying that film is better than digital … just that inherent in its nature it is different .. it renders color uniquely, skin tones uniquely, and has a somewhat softer feel. All in all I would have to say that I loved shooting film again … and will definitely be doing a lot more in the future! It was so funny to me how giddy I got with the whole process of shipping out the rolls and waiting in anticipation to see the shots!

The first image below (which I re-posted from a previous post) shows you the mamiya (the one on the left). I got all the film processed at Richard Photo Lab and let me tell you … they are AMAZING!! The images came back as you see them below … basically perfect … which is not something I can say about most labs! Anyways, below you will see a small selection of some of these images … I can’t show all the images right now for magazine publishing rights but I hope you enjoy the ones I can show! More to come soon!!!

it was incredibly touching to see how all these kids wanted was love, its amazing how we take ‘being loved’ for granted … shot courtesy of the amazing Phil Glickman!

here are some of the water filters (aka easter island statues) shot on a Holga camera … which is basically a plastic camera that shoots medium format

more holga-lisciousness

on to the mamiya 645 … don’t you just love the look of film!?!

these tikes as well as all the ones below will be a lot healthier thanks to the long term clean water solution they received thanks to the efforts of Thirst Relief International

the goats at the orphanage where we installed the filter

look closely