hasselblad

An Old Camera & Old Buildings

First Roll of Portra 400

Last month my friend Martin and I drove around Minneapolis looking for interesting places to photograph—and we found a few. This was also my first time shooting Portra 400.

Grumpy's Bar in Minneapolis — Grumpy’s Bar in Minneapolis - This was our second trip to this spot. I was trying to time the shot for the person walking in and just lucked out with the people in the window. This is one of my favorite shots from 2025.

I first learned my way around a camera with film back in high school, but for the majority of the last 20+ years, it’s been digital for me. That was until I got hooked on Polaroid a few years ago and have since been slowly dipping my toes into film.

Most of that has been black and white; it’s pretty straightforward to develop at home and I also like the scanning process. Color as I have understood it, is a little more of a challenge to develop so I have stuck to digital for that, until now.

Minneapolis Bar — Another Bar with a great sign and great colors.

Portra seemed like a good choice from what I read online so I snuck in a few shots in-between my digital captures and thought I’d see what happens. I don’t think these are better than the digital shots I got, but they are different and I really like them.

Garge Doors with Graffiti — This was actually shot back in Duluth.

I also have found I really enjoy the process: loading the film, metering, removing the dark slide, advancing the film, unloading it, developing it (at least for black and white), and then scanning. I also like not really knowing if what I got worked out and that there is a chance things could go wrong and I might lose everything.

Novelty is a thing… and that might be what’s at play here, but I’m just happy that photography can still get me excited and still surprise me after all these years. I won’t be giving up my digital cameras anytime soon, but having a slower option feels good too.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Dan

Hollywood Theater in Minneapolis. We found this cool Art Deco theater online and had to check it out.

Ferris wheel minneapolis — Ferris Wheel at “Hey Y’all Tipsy Taco Bar”

An industrial scene — Pipes and Graffiti.

Abandoned Garage — This is also in Duluth. This garage was still in use up until a few years ago and I’ve always wanted to shoot it.

Grumpy's Bar Minneapolis — Another shot of Grumpy’s earlier in the evening. I prefer the nighttime shot from the other side, but that blue building with the sign gets me.