Vietnam 2017
Film

Let’s just say I have a severe case of the “the shoemaker’s children go barefoot’. Taking personal photographs aren’t exactly prioritized. So when Sam and I decided to take near a month off to go to Vietnam and Australia at the end of 2017 I vowed to document it. Leaving my digital camera at home, I brought my father’s Canon EOS 620 and several rolls of black and white film.

Upon my return I hunkered down in my bathroom to develop all four rolls, a process that took the entirety of a morning. Keen on several images from Ninh Binh I scanned them first, and to my absolute horror it looked akin to Photo 51, the X-ray image of DNA, but with none of the scientific significance. Pouring back over the film and noticed fogging in odd patterns, light leaks along the sprockets, and sure enough, an ungodly amount of grain. Devastation may be the best way to describe it – I scanned a handful more images then gave up, completely disheartened. I have developed dozens of rolls before with no issue, then this catastrophe.

Only two years later could I look at these images again. Finding delight in their flaws, the ragtag products of perhaps too many X-rays in transport, a light leak when loading, perhaps crumby developer, or over agitation. Little Frankensteins of film that typically has so much leeway. Mayhaps best viewed as postage stamps then prints, a collection from our travels.

You can view a (less grainy) phone film here.