 Today's episode is sponsored by the dark room Well, it's business as usual around here yet another trip out to the desert with my forbidden meet man Caleb to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no one has gone before Because yeah, it's kind of dumb for us to go into a band and building sometimes Yep It'd be a couple more days out in the dusty and dry-ass desert and I was preparing to make it a worthwhile one I was thinking of bringing my old but new to me four by five camera and the two pristine Graphmatic backs that I picked up for next to nothing I would say they were probably just sitting in someone's garage because yeah, they look barely used but with me. Oh They're gonna get used no Destroyed anyway The problem with the graphmatic backs is that I've never loaded them before and would need a little analog courage from my old friend Caleb so I got flashed bad flashed and I'd be on my merry way Things were off to a solid start as we headed eastward But soon realized we needed to bless this trip and our colons with some barbecue that we certainly would not regret consuming Before we land ourselves miles from the nearest toilet. So out of the blue We actually found a local barbecue spot that turned out to be amazing Seems that things were off to a great start. He said knowing what lies two seconds ahead to our ill-fated travelers Yeah, the forerunner was having issues with the starter and we couldn't get it to churn up anymore after calling My brother a highly skilled and masterful car technician He told us to smack the shit out of it and try again, which we did and it worked However not feeling confident that this wouldn't happen again Except maybe next time in the middle of nowhere with no cell service We decided to hightail it back home instead and that was that no pictures taken no fun had just some delicious Barbecue but before this video wraps up I'd like to quickly thank today's sponsor the dark room need your film developed at a reasonable cost The dark room has got you covered with more than I'm just kidding the video is far from over We dropped off the old temperamental beast back at home and hot swapped our gear in the Caleb Civic Get back out on the road as soon as possible Anyway, we cruise out to the desert racing against the light hoping that we could at least get some shots in before we Called the day a total wash We headed to the one spot we knew would absolutely deliver on celluloid the one spot that always keeps their light on for us Besides the four by five I also brought the Hasse a camera that doesn't get enough love on this channel looking back at the catalog of work that I've shot with This camera I realized that I've taken some of my best photos with it and this trip would certainly add to that sentiment typically in this situation You'd find my predictable ass loading up 800 T because you know neon sign and whatnot But I decided to say get all life is short and I'm about to barbecue crap my pants So why not throw down some lomo red scale? I forgot loading the Hasselblatt is like the slowest operation This Roy sign has been shot to death by photographers passing through on pretty much every format you can possibly think of except maybe red scale At least that's what I was thinking. I've actually been on quite a red scale binge lately I shot some in New York, and I really liked it. Well, some of it It was my own fault for shooting an ultra low light. Anyway, again an ultra low light I tried desperately to get some juicy red scale six or five Slammers because learning from past traumatic experiences is dumb and is for losers fearing the worst that the sign would not be illuminated that evening I took a shit shot and literally two seconds afterwards the lady turned the sign on for us This shot is fantastic. I love the faint gradient in the sky the silhouette of the car and of course the glowy neon sign I'll package together nicely under red scales moody aesthetic As much as I love the previous shot I also love this one the lighting. I think is what makes it look a bit desolate ultimately I can't really decide which of the two belongs in the portfolio Wow, what do you know Jason took three good photos in a row? This is my own personal record and will likely never be topped again Let's see if he can make it four in a row Yeah No, it was a good try, but this shot is as the kids say mid Okay, I'm not gonna bullshit you this may be the best photo I've ever taken like an alien corpse discovered at a UFO crash site Let's dissect it the subjects are nice and blurry from the low shutter speed Which is cool because it shows motion, but also keeps them anonymous They're perfectly framed by the shape of the overhang and the deep dark mountains in the background the gradient in the sky also gives a nice mood And the very dimly lit cafe sign up above is a nice little touch the fluorescent lighting and overall red-scaled desert colors are incredible It's a winner for sure Man, there must have been something in that barbecue, you know besides heart disease because I was on a roll like I've never seen before Any whistle the lady running the station wouldn't let me anywhere near the controls because I don't know I look untrustworthy or something can't fault her for that one I was definitely sweaty and shaking as the barbecue was banging at the back door for sweet release But she was okay letting Caleb turn the sign on so at least I got to live vicariously through him Admittedly I kind of lost my mojo after that this shot is good But it's really more of an architectural shot instead of anything that specifically strikes a mood That was the end of the red scale for now of the 16 645 shots I took 12 that were keepers and maybe three Porty Mcfolio shots might be more might be less could change my mind later As we were winding down I busted out the four by five and took one final parting shot Why is it so glowy? You may be pondering to yourself that would be because I applied a Diffusion net to the rear element of the lens to break up some of the four by five sharpness and detail. Did it work? Certainly, does it look cool? Yeah, I'm kind of meh on it Eventually we made it to our hotel for the night the luxurious Ritz Carlton located in the one and only Barstow, California That's disgusting what you did in there. You should be ashamed Anyway after eating some healthy chicken Slammers from Popeyes because apparently we hadn't destroyed our stomachs quite enough that day We decided to set up our podcast gear and just knock one out Unfortunately is a podcast that will probably never see the light of day because we okay me got so slammed that I don't remember Recording half of it and looking back at the footage. Yeah, it was kind of rough speaking of abusing our stomachs Telly ho You know, honestly, you think at this point it would just it would hurt less Anyway, all's fair in drinking and a podcasting I guess because I woke up with a splitting hangover for the ages I might still be a little hammered this morning After some coffee McDonald's and some powerful words of affirmation We got the day started right as we arrived at the abandoned Royal Hawaiian motel For starters, I decided to shoot some Cinestelle 800 tea in the Hasse was it the right choice? No, I don't think so You see 800 tea is what I would call a cooled off film stock I kind of categorize it with Fuji film stocks in that way I think it's good for settings that are a tropical greens blues yellows that sort of thing the desert However is notoriously none of those things I think maybe a Kodak stock would have fit the bill a bit better to capture some of those dusty dry cracked-ass tones This is a really cool location and all but the lighting and abundance of graffiti wasn't really inspiring me to be honest On shoots like this. I actually find it better to head inside and try and find interesting splashes of light and subject These shots are overall fine nothing to write home about I mean, I don't even own a quill and parchment, but this one is the best I think the subject maybe isn't super clear But the lighting and colors are nice and this setting is at least interesting This shot of the cafe sign is a prime example of something that would have been better shot on I don't know maybe gold or portrait something warmer I think the cool tones clash with the subject matter just a bit I like this shot If not for the wallpaper so ugly that it's kind of beautiful then definitely the lighting and colors I wish maybe I gave the shot a little bit more exposure to clearly define the TV set But I was working in low light. So yeah, that's the excuse. I'm gonna go with Now wrapped on the Royal Hawaiian. We headed to a location with a pretty straightforward name They were just like this particular section of road. We're not doing it After some crazy dangerous off-roading in simply the best vehicle for off-roading we arrived at pizza or however It's pronounced It's a spot that I've actually wanted to shoot for a while a desert research area out in the middle of nowhere Unfortunately, it was mostly unavailable to the public. I decided to knock out an exposure on 4x5 anyway. Why don't know It's not exactly pretty or what I normally shoot but why not carry in all my heavy-ass 4x5 stuff and heavy-ass video equipment for a shot That's bland and forgettable well thought we had something cool, but Zizisk was Kind of a bust, right? Anything you say big boy Wait after not getting stuck in this hand because the civic can handle any situation you throw at it As long as there are strong able-bodied handsome men nearby We got stuck there and Jason hold us out. Well push us out. So now we're going that way. So bye sand We arrived at our destination This location ended up being totally awesome Maybe because it was magic hour or maybe because we needed a strong W that day But we certainly took our time and found the shots we were looking for With the sand infiltrating and burying the building like it was I saw it as the perfect physical representation of time itself Speaking of time it takes a lot of that stuff to set up the 4x5 and then shoot it and not much of it for the sun to go down I like this first shot quite a bit It's got good layering and the diffusion from the lens net is definitely present But not overpowering the only thing I would have changed is to have taken the photo with a yellow filter just for a pinch More contrast this photo is good I think what it really succeeds at is showing the intersection of the sand and the building window Perhaps if the lighting were more direct on one side of the building It would make the image feel a bit more three-dimensional then it would be perfect But hey, what's the point of shooting film if you don't get to complain about how your shot could have been slightly better Even though the shutter stuck on that exposure somehow the image turned out In fact, you could say as little John once said what because what the hell how did that even happen? I like how abstract this whole image is the detail of the oven and kitchen area being totally buried in sand is quite a striking image Anyway with my spine probably way out of alignment from carrying that godforsaken beast of a 4x5 camera I headed back to the car and pulled out the hassy for some blue-hour shots on the remaining Sinistil 800t After that we eventually skirt skirted back to Barstow for the night in Kilb's smooth-ass McLaren Desert we headed to some more nearby abandoned buildings that we passed on the way out to Roy's A lot of color here So I'm not gonna shoot color Seems pretty simple, right? That was the end of the 800t in the hassy of the 16 shots. I got 11 keepers and no portfolio shots In my second hassy-assy aka my second hassle blad back I loaded up some ill for it HP 5 that I'd be pushing to 1600 because it's fun to do stupid stuff sometimes in this case Shoot 1600 ISO in the middle of a bright ass day Also stupid is me because I accidentally overwound that back to somewhere around frame 6 to start Whilst exploring the next abandoned building something that I always feared would happen happened. It was inhabited After totally not being scared because society has trained me as a man to be confident and strong Explored the rest of the building not shaking at all from fight-or-flight adrenaline. I took their shot It just sort of is what it is. I guess Why is there always a couch in Places like this are people really coming to hang out here This shot is actually pretty good the lighting. I think really sells it I wish I could have gone a little wider, but I didn't have the equipment to do so Also, I'm a little creeped out thinking about what this hole in the couch was used for but whatever That was that on the HP 5 in the hassy of the 16 shots. I took 10 keepers and one Maybe two portfolio shots after that we kind of wandered around aimlessly looking for photos Which is probably about 90% of what we do as photographers I had a couple sheets left in the graph Maddox and just wanted to burn them out. I guess Unfortunately, I was working with midday light and a half-assed mindset So the shots aren't super cool, but I'll show them anyway so you can suffer alongside me Anyway, if at any point during this video you wondered who developed all the film that was shown in this video And I'd be pleased to inform you there's none other than today's sponsor the darkroom If you've ever been concerned about getting your film developed not only easily but done the right way by a lab that actually cares to Take the time to do it correctly then man. Oh, man Do I have the solution for you the darkroom is one of the only labs that I personally trust to get my film done? Right and on time with over 45 years of experience and a team of professionals using dip and dunk processors paired with the high-quality Noritsu film scanners that professionally deliver the film look you can count on them to get the job done and the colors that you Want to see I've been using the darkroom for about four or five years now because of simply how easy it is to Submit rolls of film for processing just request a free mailer fill out the online form write your order number down Drop your rolls in seal it up and toss that sucker in your nearest mailbox I'm not point on all I have to do is wait for your scans to come in or your negatives to return to you I personally love how easy it is to track my shipment from start to finish If you have an order of film ready to go head over to the darkroom comm to get started or simply download the darkroom app today Anyway, I like the photos We had fun and we nearly shit ourselves because we eat like farm animals the same stuff I usually say at the end of these videos You know what is actually not the same this time my love for Redscale those Redscale shots were something else entirely I really liked how they turned out even the ones that sucked had a certain cool factor to them I don't know. I think there's a certain time and place for Redscale It's just a feeling but overall I'm pretty excited to keep exploring this film stock in the future Especially if it delivers results like these, you know that prehistoric look like a meteor just struck the Yucatan Peninsula and millions of dinosaurs are about to die Is that a good way to end this video?