This “Party of One” concept came to me only after taking these photos and getting the film scans back from the lab. CineStill had just released their BwXX stock for medium format cameras a few days before manifesting this shoot. Considering that some of my favorite films, or scenes, have been shot on this stock, I immediately bought three rolls. The initial idea was “create something that feels like a favorite film you’ve never seen before.”

With that in mind, I knew I wanted to shoot with Charity in Chinatown as an homage to one of our early photoshoots a few years ago. Back then I was still getting a handle on photography as a profession and I wanted to revisit this location as a way of seeing just how far I’d come.

Originally, I envisioned this being done completely in black and white, but as Charity and I were building on the vision for this shoot, she sent me the outfit she had in mind. The pop of red in the dress inspired me to pack a roll of color film. Keeping in theme with the CineStill BwXX, CineStill 50D made the most sense to pair with it for my 35mm images.

The distinctive green tint of the 50D made the color images feel like fully graded movie stills. Almost as if they would start moving if you stared at them long enough. The BwXX offered a completely different feeling with its prominent grain and deep shadows. The size of the grain brought a gritty texture adding to the depth of the images.

After sharing some of these photos on Instagram, someone commented asking “What film is this from?” It was everything that I could’ve asked for summarised in a single comment. This shoot confirmed a lot for me in terms of understanding the kind of footing I have in film photography. I’m looking forward to the future films I create through stills.