Analog: Taipei by night

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Analog: Taipei by night

October 13, 2016 by Chris Dunn

When you’re planning to visit Taiwan, the first thing anyone talks about is night markets. I’ll have an entire blog post dedicated to night markets later, but suffice it to say that Taipei has a pretty active night life, and I knew early on that I’d want to capture that on film.

Some quick research introduced me to CineStill, which reworks ECN-2 motion picture film so it can be shot and processed for C-41. They’re working on production of medium-format film, but for now, only 35mm is available. It’s not a perfect film — it’s particularly known for halation — but I loved the examples of urban night photography I’d seen, and wanted to give it a try. Thanks to a Canon EOS A2 loan from Tyler Rippel, via FIND in a BOX, I was able to shoot CineStill in Taiwan.

Honestly, it was nerve-wracking for me to use new-to-me film with a new-to-me camera at night in a country I may never be able to visit again. But I trusted my light meter and went for it. The results certainly aren’t perfect — they’re gritty, grainy and grungy — but that’s exactly what I wanted. Here are a few photos from our nocturnal wanderings, with more to come: