I recently posted a set of my favourite frames from my first roll of Kodak Portra 400. Like I mentioned, I was mindful of the frames I took, and tried to shoot the same or similar frames on my digital camera just to compare.

I’m still trying to to find the best methods that yield clean, accurate results from my Epson scanner. I’ve found scanning Portra was a heck of a lot easier than Kodak Gold, which is what I typically shoot with. Overall, I’m quite pleased with this first roll and I can’t wait to shoot some more!

Below you’ll find the vertical frames with the digital on the left, film on the right. For the horizontical photos, digital is on the top, film is on the bottom. For comparison, the digital photos were shot at a focal length of 28mm, while the film was shot at a focal length of 35mm.

While on the road trip in July, I met with Marvin Boyd (@marvinboyd) in Seattle to shoot. After shooting near Green Lake, Seattle, we stopped by the Shot on Film Store where I picked up a few rolls of Portra 400.

I’ve always been into shooting film, but for some reason never bothered to pick up any Portra film stocks. Probably because I always just picked up the cheap Kodak Gold from Walmart which gave me pretty decent results. 

So later during the summer on the West Coast, I shot a roll to see how I liked it. I didn’t shoot a ton, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. Oh - and not to mention, it scans SO much better with minimal adjustments for natural colours and tones. It’s been a constant struggle for me to scan film and get decent results.

Below are my favourite frames from the roll. The majority of the shots from the West Coast, and the last few frames of Lake Louise.

I was mindful of the compositions and tried my best to take similar shots on my digital camera so I can do a comparison. Take a look at the next blog post for the comparisons!

After watching the Formula Drift qualifiers, I met up with Alex and Casey to say my goodbyes and decided I would head east and start making my way towards Montana. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there in one shot so I camped along the way and woke up early for a quick sunrise at Lake Wenatchee. A solid recommendation from Alex.

Sunset on the drive to Wenatchee

Washington has the coziest looking cabins

Sunrise self portrait

Early morning mist over the water

After sunrise, I had the entire day of driving to get to Montana. So what better thing to do than to drive on some random forest roads to kill time? I had no idea where they went or if I’d get lost but they seemed like they would be great roads to take a lifted Subie on ;) so if anyone wants to get me a Forester ST/b with a lift…

Spokane, WA

I had to throw in the last photo because I made a quick pit stop in Spokane, WA to visit this giant wagon I remember playing on when I was a child. It definitely brought back good memories.