Film wedding Photography
Film has that unique quality of looking vintage and timeless at the same time. The film colors are something that digital just can’t touch, it just looks and feels so right! I offer both 35mm and 120mm as add-ons to all of my wedding packages. Mostly color film but we can totally shoot some black and white too!
I am available throughout the US and beyond!
35mm film wedding photography
What does 35mm really mean? It goes back to the actual width of the film and not the size of the frame on the film. The film strip is 35 millimeters wide and each frame is 24x36 millimeters. Typically, there are 36 shots on a single roll of 35mm film.
What about 120mm?
120mm is a much larger piece of rolled film, as the name suggests, it is 120mm or 12cm wide and the most popular frame sizes are from 60x45mm to 60x90mm. 120mm is also referred to as medium format, whereas 35mm is called small format. A roll of 120mm film can have anywhere between 8 and 16 frames on the roll, depending on the camera. 120mm film usually has a lot more picture quality than 35mm. This means that 120mm is most often better for portraits whereas 35mm is better suited to capture authentic and spontaneous moments.
Polaroids
Let’s not forget about Polaroids. I have a couple of Polaroid Now cameras that use I-type film. Which is basically the classic Polaroid that most people are familiar with.
Large format
Large format film is not rolled like 120mm or 35mm but comes in individual sheets (and dang, they’re expensive!) Typically, they’re 4x5 inches or larger and if you see someone set up a camera on a tripod and go under a dark cloth, that’s large format photography.
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I shoot on both 35mm and 120mm films, along with Polaroid I-type films — both color and black and white. Film photography is included in both of my full-day wedding packages. As an add-on, each roll is $175 which includes shooting (of course!), developing, scanning, and uploads to your wedding gallery. A pack of 8 polaroids is $75.
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You will get most of the pictures, yes. Typically, I deliver about 28-30 photos from 36 shots on a roll of 35mm and about 12-14 from 16 shots on a 120mm roll. You will get all of the Polaroids and a high resolution scan of each one too!
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That’s super subjective! If you want gorgeous and vibrant wedding portraits, 120mm is your film! If poppy and candid reception shots are more your thing, 35mm is your gal. Many of my clients mix it up, 120mm for the ceremony and portraits — then 35mm for the party.
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I am based in Connecticut but available for weddings and elopements worldwide.
Get in touch to book and learn more about my film photography
Film vs. Digital wedding photography
It was only 20 years ago that mostly all weddings were shot on film. A wedding photographer would show up with a finite amount of shots to take. Film made it so that you had to be more careful with your approach.
You couldn’t just take 6000 photos and then edit down to the best 400, like with digital — and that’s digital’s greatest advantage.
Wedding photographers in the early 2000s and earlier had to be more selective with their shots, which also meant that weddings had to more posed and scripted. This is why you’ll barely see any truly candid and spontaneous wedding photos when you visit older friends and family.
Where film exceeds is in the colors and it’s forgivingness with skin tones. Film is softer and renders skin much better than all the digital cameras I’ve ever tried. It’s not even close!