I love those times when a scene or frame particularly catches my eye and know that I could freeze that moment by making it into a photograph. As I hold the camera to my face and try my best to guess set the appropriate setting, I frame my composition. I'm a little taller for the girl's average height, so I have learned to bend down my knees a little to direct the shot on an eye-level. Then here comes my favorite part: focusing. I slowly rotate the focus ring, and like a dream turned reality, the viewfinder smoothly shifts from total blur to a clear and sharp subject on focus. I inhale, and then exhale with my finger on the shutter button. Freeze.
Shooting with film definitely slowed me down, and I say this as a great thing. Being enclosed inside the viewfinder, attachment to the subject is inevitable.
What's more lovely, is to see the result and learn that it looks exactly like how you imagined it to be when you took the shot a couple of weeks back. It doesn't always happen though as film tends to give you a couple of surprises here and there, but when it does, you genuinely cherish the moment. Like these bicycles resting under the trees in Siem Reap.
