12 Months of Film - January 2025
A monthly feature that goes beyond what's shared on Instagram.
If you’re not familiar, there’s an account on Instagram called 12 Months on Film, which challenges users to pick different combinations of cameras and film stocks throughout the year. It’s such a simple but interesting premise, and despite not participating the entire year in 2024, I’m hoping to do so for 2025.
For the month of January, I chose to pair up the following gear:
Camera: Canon Demi EE17
Film: Ilford FP4 Plus 125 (shot at 400)
The Canon Demi EE17 is a wonderful little half-frame camera that I, sadly, haven’t touched since 2022. I’d put a lot of work into cleaning, repairing and customizing the camera - finishing it off with a neat plaid skin that I’d purchased on Etsy, cut to size and glued on myself. However, after shooting a roll or two, it went back on the shelf to collect dust.
Ilford FP4 is my go-to black and white film stock, and I’ve gone through a couple bulk rolls of it in the past few years. It gives me all of the contrast I love, and very little of the grain that I don’t.
For this January challenge I decided to push the FP4 to 400 speed, as I didn’t feel that the daylight would be bright enough for 125 speed. I also didn’t want any excuses for NOT taking photos (“can’t shoot today, it’s too overcast”).
When it comes to finishing a roll of film, it’s always a gamble on how quickly I’ll go, so I also decided to only load up about 24 frames worth in the bulk roller.
. . .
In the interest of getting off to a successful start and completing the January challenge, I blew through the roll in 2 days. Most of the frames were taken on a walk around the neighborhood with my wife and our dog, so many of the photos didn’t turn out super great. But among them there were a couple with some potential.
The other photos were from the following day — taking my son to school and going to the grocery store.
. . .
All in all I’m pleased with completing the challenge despite the photos themselves not being anything special. But as I said on Instagram, it’s far better to have mediocre results to show for your effort as opposed to having no results for great intentions.
To anyone else doing this challenge (or even simply challenging yourself to get motivated), sometimes you just need to put in the work, take the camera out and get back in the habit of shooting. There’s a joy in doing that isn’t necessarily tied to the finished product.
Are you participating in the 12 Months on Film challenge? Let me know in the comments!