When I started this whole film journey, I didn’t really expect to get hooked. I always thought film photography looked like a lot of effort, especially when digital can just do everything so seamlessly. But there was this quiet itch I couldn’t ignore, and eventually, I gave in.

I borrowed a Nikon FM2 from @snapbymma, grabbed two rolls of Kodak Ultramax 400, found a 28mm Tamron lens for £40, and just thought, let’s see what happens.

At first, I had no idea what I was doing. I’m used to shooting autofocus, so going fully manual was my first real hurdle. I thought it would be overwhelming, but surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad. The harder part? Shooting with a 28mm lens. It’s not a focal length I usually gravitate toward andfelt uncomfortable, if I’m honest. But I saw it as a challenge to “get closer” and rethink how I approach framing.

I’ve got to admit, I cheated a bit. I forgot to put a battery in the Nikon (I didn’t even realise it needed one), so I had no light meter. I ended up using my Leica Q3 to preview the exposure, then matched the shutter speed on the FM2. It seemed to work… until I realised about 15 shots in that I’d set the ISO to 100 instead of 400 to match my film. Classic beginner error. Still, I pressed on.

Out of the 64 shots I took, I ended up with about 5 photos I was genuinely happy with. That might sound disheartening, but honestly? I was buzzing. The feeling of seeing those few frames come out better than expected made all the mistakes totally worth it.