Previous clients of mine, Darlene and Jose, asked me if I could photograph their daughter’s 13th birthday party. I was happy to oblige. Naomi had a great turnout, and the kids had a blast!

> Technical Info: My primary camera for this event was the Nikon D7000. Lenses used were the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D and 35mm f/1.8G DX primes, with the 20mm being the workhorse. Being a 30mm equivalent focal length when mounted on a DX camera, it is perfect for candid/photojournalistic event shots. For lighting I was using 2 Nikon SB-600 strobes on lightstands and a third SB-600 on camera usually bounced. Flash triggers were Phottix Strato II’s for Nikon. I also used a Nikon F100 film camera with the 20mm mounted along with Fujifilm Superia 400 film for the ultra-wide images at the bottom of this post. The film was processed and scanned at Walgreens with some minor edits in Lightroom.

The following images were shot with the Nikon F100 / 20mm f/2.8D lens combo loaded with Fujifilm Superia 400 film as I mentioned at the top of this post. I like how they turned out. Although not as “clean” as digital, I think there’s a certain “character” to them that seems inherent with film. I think I’ll continue to use film on occasion to “mix” things up a little.