Blast from the Past CHAS @ My house, Portland, OR

[James E]

It's been nearly 5 years since I moved to a little place out in the sticks called Iowa Colony (Rosharon) Texas about 40 min south of Houston. While I've enjoyed the privacy (I often joke about "blowing $h!+ up in my back yard"), being 2281 miles away from the ex-wife, recapturing some of my childhood living on a small farm keeping chickens, turkeys, guineas, too many cats, and a 105lb Great Pryenees called Yeti.<(Actually the wife's dog/child...) During this entire time I've not touched a single camera, have missed out on buying a couple of cases of E100D, nor watched a single super8 Film. Mostly I've just worked myself 3/4ths to death.

MUCH has changed. Super8 has slowed quite a bit. Reversal film is seriously endangered, and a lot more expensive. Film is no longer projected @ the cinema. The boards are a bit quieter. Perhaps because less are active on them, or there are simply less people still shooting film. Even so I am greatly encouraged by many things that have changed in super8 in my absence: You can buy a (kinda new) super 8 camera on Amazon and other places! Reviewing the boards I see many new names and people not much older than my own children getting into super 8. There are better film scanners. (Thanks Roger!). A brand new super 8 camera even! Perhaps it will yet survive a great many more years.

But I digress. My blast from the past. The one person from the boards I met in Person was CHAS. I heard about his film Westsider here and went to it's Premier at the Clinton Street theater walking distance from my house Near Hawthorne BLVD <( Now hipster hell!) in Portland, OR. Later than summer he said he and his wife were coming up to my part of the world. They did and it was fantastic. We talked super8, tried to watch a film, but my bulb died. I recommended all the best sites to see and places to eat.

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< (CHAS had said he used a Minolta XL-401 on Westsider. )

Now, I'm taking a sabbatical and ALL of the FILM cameras have been taken out of the closet and put back to use. It has been fantastic to get back onto the boards and realize the more things change, the more they remain the same. There will always be analog fanatics who love the organic/chemical interactions of light, celluloid and emulsion. Perhaps in my travels I'll have the opportunity to visit some of you as CHAS did. I'll shoot a little bit of film with each of you. Instead of pass the cart, pass the cameraman!

I love film. Have since the first time in the 5th grade me and a friend made a super 8 film. Even more so when I got a hold my Dad's Pentax ME Super and took photography classes. I've tried video: Had a BetaCam... it weighed a ton! Had a DV Cam, a Nikon D40... It's just not the same. Digital has little life, and I found myself getting lazy.. Click click click click click... One of them will come out alright... They didn't, they got worse. Film requires contemplation. It's too damned expensive to piss away. I'm going to enjoy it while it's still around and I can afford it!

I've started flicker an vimeo accounts. As soon as I actually have something worth looking at, I'll post them here.Check my website on occasion... Once of these days fairly soon I'll actually get it up and working. Look for me and friend me on Facebook: James E Stubbs. You may have to put up with an occasional nonsensical political rant, but I'm mostly lighthearted and post random photos and check in's.

Thanks to all of you for still being here and answering many questions over the years.
Long live analog, long live film.

Now, I'm off to shoot some film,

[CHAS]

Hey James!
haha - just checking this out now. Nice to see those old pix! I don't come to this board as much as I used to. Hope you are having fun in Texas. I hope to visit Roger some day so maybe I can swing by to your parts. I shot Westsider primarily on a Nikon R10, a Canon 814 AZ and a few days on a Canon 1014-XLS. The Minolta was only used for one scene (the brilliantly-lit Marina del Rey balcony shots). That Minolta is a very underrated camera!

Check out "Westsider" and my earlier film, "Ennui" on this dvd:
http://www.amazon.com/Westsider-Will-Lu ... =westsider

or rent "Westsider" alone for two measly bucks!:
http://www.amazon.com/Westsider-Charles ... =westsider