Yes — I absolutely shoot film.
My first camera was my father’s Pentax Honewell SP500. I used it for photos of friends and to occassional sneak into concerts. I had very little understanding of settings at that time, but somehow ended up with some beautiful images. Here in Japan I also became the caretaker of an Olympus OM10 film body which I utilized in 2022 for several months after my Nikon Z6 took a fatal dive onto concrete.
That forced film-only period reminded me of the simple pleasure that comes with shooting on a purely mechanical camera, and also proved to me that film had a certain quality that is very ellusive with most digital cameras, which in turn directly led me to my current Fujifilm medium-format digital system. With 100 megapixels of resolution and fujifilm color science, it is able to not only achieve the look of film, but do so in a rugged weather sealed body.
I still often return to the OM10 for some film photography, and this year (2026) I purchased a Pentacon Six Medium format camera which I have already used for photographing an Okinawa Dance Festival, Seascapes, and some late night street photography in Yokohama’s China Town. I’m still in the learning phase, but initial results are promising. Digital will remain the largest part of my workflow though, as the extreme weather I put my cameras through would put an end to these classic film cameras pretty quickly. I will definitely put the pentacon six into some weather soon, but more often than not will try to keep it out of the extremes.
Born to the temperate rain forests north of Seattle, I have lived in Alaksa, Death Valley, Mexico, Hawaii and now for 15 years Japan. All of these places have some pretty extreme weather, and I have never been one to hide from any of it. In seattle we walk around in pouring rain in our t-shirts, it’s just normal there as a child, and my inner child is still very much alive. My Fujilm GFX has been with me now for 4 years, and has proven itself in Typhoons, Nagano Blizzards, Extreme Summer heat, and in the splash zone of the ocean capturing surfers and long exposures of tidal pools and massive typhoon waves!
Film cameras are my therapy and I tend to turn to them heavily after a few years of pushing myself and my gear to hard, they allow me to slow down, reflect, and when I re-enter the digital rhelm I always feel like I have fresh eyes and bring more and more of that film look to my new images each time. It’s part of my cycle and evolution as a photographer. Just as I am never content photographing just one type of subject, I am not content stagnating in just film or just digital. I love photography, and though it is often a linear progression, there are moments where I know I leap up to a new level and it is usually after trying something new, or re-visiting something after a long abscence. Shooting film is one of those big stepping stones for me.
はい、もちろんフィルムでも撮りますよ。
はい、フィルムも当然撮ります。初めて手に持ったカメラは父親の古い一眼レフで、最近はニコンZ6をコンクリートに叩き落とした後、しばらくオリンパスのフィルム機を預かりました。
その「フィルムだけ」の期間が、今の富士フイルム中判デジタルシステムを選ぶ直接のきっかけになりました。適切なフィルムシミュレーションと粒状を加えれば、プリントではスキャンした中判フィルムと見分けがつきません。
オリンパスで撮った作品も時折販売していますし、2026年には本物のフィルム中判機を追加し、天気の良い日の風景・街並みに使います。しかし極端な天候になると話は別です——私は天気を避けません。
シアトルの嵐、アラスカの吹雪、デスバレー灼熱、メキシコのスコール、ハワイの塩風、そして日本の深雪。先週、長野で7時間降りしきる雪の中を撮り続けて、GFXも私も無事に帰還しました。
フィルムカメラだって多少の雨なら耐えられます。でも、僕がわざわざ出向いていくような悪天候となると話は別です。最新の防塵防滴デジカメですら過酷な環境なのに、ましてやクラシックなフィルムカメラなんて、到底持ち込めませんよ。
— T. Mellon Film Studio Japan November 26, 2025 —
