10,000 Frames: Archive Files #3
Archive Series by Brooke D’Avanzo
Welcome back to 10,00 Frames, an archive series where I share my journey of mastering analog photography one roll at a time. Today I’m at about 3,667 images (2 more rolls this month!) and 6334 to go. To see previous archives, check out my website.
If you find yourself in these photos, please screenshot them, download them, share them, and if you'd be so kind, tag me on ig (@brookedavanzo.jpg). All the images lead to the IGs of the subjects, so check them out.
Select Prints are available on my website.
From me to you.
Brooke from Contigo
Archive Files #3 Mexico City: Life’s Pivot
Published 9.20.2023
Mexico City, Mexico December 2022
Sometimes there’s that trip that changes your life. Where you see yourself as you really are. Confident, but scared, excited, but nervous. Not knowing what will happen and absolutely no plan, but a gut feeling that you might not want to leave.
Imagine this: waking up every morning to the bells, whistles, and loudspeakers of the ecosystem of street vendors. In this bed.
and in the next room that one friend who blindly believes in you. And then you get to see these streets. And then catch yourself thinking “Why do the series of no parking signs make me feel alive?” And “Why am I in love with the way these chairs are placed around the table?”
And “Thank you to whoever idea it was to put Jesus boxes on every street corner.” (or at least that’s what I call them.) Every. Single. Corner. Then you become aware that every encounter feels “right” and everything makes sense. Life feels, in harmony.
Then you find yourself asking strangers to pose for you in the park. And they All say “Si” Then it dawns on you, “The streets are talking to me.” The walls always have something beautifully short to say. you find myself falling in love with the walls. Your conversations are as sacred as a deathbed secret finally told.
At this point, you realize that you can finally see yourself. You muster up the courage to reach out, make friends, and have that potentially awkward or incredible first-friend date. And it turns out like this; with a person who offers you her whole world in an afternoon. That turn into collaborations like this. Then reality hits. “Maybe this place, Mexico City, experiences these types of lovers, like me, a lot. Admiring, musing, and overwhelmed by the sense of belonging.” But hey, CDMX, I might not be your first, but may I say… I know you love me too.
Your people, Your streets, Your Art, Your Culture. You’ve got me. I’m hooked.
Now for all my Analog nerds: The Gear, the process, and the settings.
These images are a mix of the trusty AE-1 and my new Mamiya 645 1000s. 85% of the medium format images are horizontal in this series and can be identified with a light leak or two. It was my first time using the Mamiya. I legitimately bought it the day before my flight. At this point, I’d been consistently shooting for over a year and I like most of us, wanted the next best thing.
I’ll admit. Medium format is the shit. Physically, the film is bigger and has the capacity for more data collection. (think sensor size, for all my digital shooters) The images are insane quality, and I was just skilled enough to push out some pretty solid images on my first try.
This Mamiya is older, and it doesn’t have a light meter. Which essentially means, it doesn’t read your film speed (ISO). You might notice that most film cameras have a dial to set your ISO. That’s a feature to tell your light meter where to begin measuring from. So, It was important for me to constantly remember that I was shooting Portra 400 (I was a lot richer those days. Now accepting Venmo donations for film and development haha)
The next fun feature was the removable viewfinder. I doubt it’s recommended to remove it without adding on the waist-level finder accessory but I had so much fun looking down and finding my subjects through the backwards frame. Without the prism, all the images you see reflected into the body are reversed.
Medium format film rolls only have 15 images available to shoot vs. 35mm film which brings 36 (or 40 if you know what you’re doing). So Each shot was precious, and I took my time.
I don’t personally use a light meter. I’ve always been the type of photographer that feels her settings. Plus I had pretty much mastered my AE-1 and I learned that my fail-safe settings were Shutter speed @ 125 and f4.5. Of course, consider your film speed and how much available light is around.
But yeah, the next step is to move onto a light meter and see how that changes my game. I’d love to intentionally expose for highlights or shadows and have more control over how I want my image to turn out. Happy to take any recommendations!
The Cannon (majority vertical images) is now free of light leaks! But as you can see there are some unexplained (mostly low light scenarios) where we see the Mamiya rolls leaking in on the left side of the frame. But since we’re so tired of a world where every image is perfect, I once again will ride out the leaks until I’m ready to fix ‘er up. But for now, I’m enjoying them. They look cool.
This is a curation of 36 images from over 6 rolls. The rest of the images follow a different theme and will as promised, be shared along with all 10,000 frames.
Archive release number 3 is very close to my heart. This trip, thanks to the people pictured, the culture of CDMX and the tools used to capture them really did change my life. This first trip post “Brooke quit her job and started a new life” really gave me the inspiration to create and even more, collaborate. I’m eternally grateful to everyone for their warmth, hospitality, and reciprocated excitement to just know each other.
Until next month,
xoxo Brooke