My name is Andrew, and I am a fine art destination wedding photographer in Italy (Lake Como, Amalfi). I shoot film and digital, and this post is going to be about my favourite portrait film - Kodak Portra 800.
I have decided to test the full potential of this film so I arranged the stylish photo shoot in the Provence studio with a beautiful model Agnesa, my amazing daughter Sofija and a professional make up artist Rita. The florist we involved was a well known master of her art - Jurgita. We also had Dvikampis video production team with us so we filmed some backstage too. My photo session aimed to test Kodak Portra 800 film inside with the intentional overexposure by +1 - +1.5 stops for pastel colours. All film was developed and scanned by Mein Film Lab (Germany). We also tested Shyzuka camera straps which we found quite comfortable to use with both film and digital cameras. So I would let you enjoy the best shots and provide you some technical information on the bottom of this page.
Kodak Portra 800
Camera: Mamiya AFD 645
Lens: Mamiya Sekor 80mm F/1.9
Location: Provanos Photo Studio (Vilnius)
Dev & Scan: MeinFilmLab (Germany)
Challenges:
This was my first time when I arranged such a huge photo session on my own. Thanks to my brother Aleksandr Spilevoj (a well known script writer, director and actor) who helped me a lot. We managed to gather such an amazing team to create these amazing shots. The most important lesson learned - with hard preparation and accurate approach 16 shots (this is how much you can get from medium format film) is a lot :) We had to be really creative to think of so many ideas to use each shot wisely. Thanks to Rita this was easier and involved more fun.
Conclusion:
It is hard to conclude something when you see such an amazing result. The goal was reached - we got amazing shots and Portra did not disappoint me. I am still in love with this film, except its price. Kodak Portra 800 is quite expensive and not always easy to find. Will I use it on the weddings? Of course, I will!!!
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