I’ve loved Utah-based Jonathan Canlas‘ wedding photography for quite some time. I must have come across his website quite randomly about four or five years ago. His images continue to inspire me. The moments are real and the processing is just right.

Little did I know back then that he was a wholly film-based photographer. Yes, film. Some of us may remember that medium. With digital being all the rage – I mean who isn’t addicted to chimping, right? – why would a photographer eschew Photoshop actions (that can make your digital images look like they were shot on film) and other “bells and whistles.” The answer is simple. Because he can, he wants to be different and his clients love him for it.

So, take a moment to look at his work again.

Now that you are back, do you see anything different? Do the images just appear more tactile, or have more depth to them? Or, is it my imagination? I believe it is the former.

Whichever way your answer sways, if you are curious about how Jonathan Canlas photographs weddings or portrait sessions using film, you have three options to learn from him.

You see, in addition to being a successful photographer, Canlas is a wonderful teacher. For several years, Canlas has offered the Film Is Not Dead workshops for those photographers looking for a solid foundation in film photography.

Canlas has also very patiently answered questions via Formspring. You should follow him on Twitter where most of these responses show up.

The last option, is a resourceful guidebook called FIND (Film Is Not Dead). There is a dedicated website where you can order this truly comprehensive offering. Jonathan generously offered me a review copy and I just got done reading it. As a photographer who cut his teeth on Tri-X and TMAX 3200, a lot of what he had to say in the book was not new to me. As a mostly 35-mm film photographer, though, I learned a great deal about medium-format cameras. So much so that I am now actively looking for a used Yashica-Mat 124-G.

Here is a breakdown of the table of contents:

This is a 95-page e-book that is sprinkled with great wisdom and some jaw-dropping images. If you are clueless about working with film, because you simply never had the opportunity or were too intimidated, then you need to run out and get this hefty PDF. Unlike other PDFs that may discuss a particular type of digital technology that is sure to change over time, I feel what Jonathan Canlas has produced for us will be as timeless as his own work. Indeed, its his generous spirit that allows us to share his vast knowledge about a medium long thought of as “old,” or worse, “dead.”

Thanks to companies like Kodak and Ilford, who continue manufacturing film, Canlas feels strongly that he will be working in that medium for a very long time and now so can you.

Buy the Film Is Not Dead guidebook by using the code “SESHU” and receive $45 off the final price. All I ask in return is that you subscribe to the Tiffinbox newsletter. Goodies like this will only be available in the future for my newsletter subscribers so you may want to get a headstart.

Full disclosure – I received a review copy of this PDF, but I don’t make a dime for mentioning it here on Tiffinbox. If you liked this review and bought the PDF, please come back here and post your comments. I’ll try and have Jonathan swing by and answer any questions you may have.

This is a guest post by Josh Easdon, a squash pro, and a documentary filmmaker. Combining his interests and abilities, he just completed a documentary project, 7 years in the making, about the legendary Pakistan squash player Hashim Khan.

Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story not only captures his life story, but also documents a section of history between England, India, Pakistan, and America up through post 9-11.

Originally, my plan was to make a documentary about the history of squash (a British creation) as seen through the wake in the British colonies. This was a way to hear the voice of people reclaiming something, or rather to reappropriate in this case squash – making it theirs. I thought this idea would allow me as a filmmaker to bring in all kinds of juicy cultural and historic elements – making an interesting commentary of the effects of colonization while letting me travel to pretty interesting places.

Once I realized the scope of this idea and the loose structure – and the mountains of funds I would have needed – I reconsidered. I picked one person on whom to focus: someone who would allow me to draw on some of these elements, but would also make an interesting story for the squash player and the non-player audience alike. That of course is Hashim Khan, the now 97-year-old Pashtun from Peshawar who, as a ball boy on a British garrison, learned a sport that he would change, and at the same time would change the destiny of his family forever.

In 2005, a crew of four, my co-producer Beth Rasin, director of photography Mikie Harlow, audio person Gabriel Cyr and myself, along with Hashim Khan and his son-in-law Rafiq Khan, traveled to the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan to document the origins of this story. I was blown away by the hospitality and the eagerness of everyone we met to befriend us. It struck me that although I was not making a political documentary, this story would document a perspective of this corner of the world in a way that has rarely been depicted on the news in the 7-second sound bite. I knew we had something that was unique, and I was proud to show it to the rest of the world. After more than 200 hours of footage, archival material, music to be composed and raising a budget of over $200,000, Keep Eye on Ball is complete.

Keep Eye on Ball will be screening at the Avon Theater in Stamford, CT, Thursday, November 4th at 7:30PM.

For more information on this screening and future screenings please visit
www.SquashFilms.com. The DVD is available online and the film will be broadcast on the Sundance Channel this winter (date TBA). I hope you get the chance to see it.

If you have questions or comments about the film please pen your thoughts below. Josh will be happy to respond to you.

I mentioned The Namesake trailer here, but here it is in all its glory. I can’t wait to see it. Oh, here is a blog that goes with The Namesake movie too. Is Kal Penn really authoring it?

“Conceived as an introspective journey that takes you from the first daguerreotypes to war photojournalism, from fashion spreads to the greatest contemporary artists, this program includes 1700 pictures, 300 artists, and will appeal to all photographers – amateur and professional alike. This is not only the history of an amazing art form, it is also the adventure of one century and a half during which photography has captured the image of the collective conscience.

Over four hours long, this trip is as dazzling as it is moving, where one crosses paths with such celebrated photographers as Ansel Adams, Brassai, Lewis Carroll, Robert Doisneau, George Eastman, Max Ernst, Roger Fenton, Eadweard Muybridge, Helmut Newton, Nicephore Niepce, Man Ray, Edward J. Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Herb Ritts, and many more.

Disc one includes: The Precursors, The Surrealists, War Photography, Portraitists, The Photoreporters, and Fashion Photography. Disc two includes: Nudes, Photography and Science, Amateur Photography, and The Photographic Market.”

Cost: $39.95. Value: Priceless. Where do you buy it? From www.kultur.com of course!

Clint Eastwood’s epic drama about the lives of US soldiers who victoriously raised the American flag on Iwo Jima called Flags Of Our Fathers opens in theaters here today.

The story is about how these soldiers were iconized and subsequently exploited by the US government. The act of raising the flag was captured and memorialized in a single image by Joe Rosenthal, a photojournalist documenting the war. It was distributed widely to build morale and support the allied actions in the Pacific.

Do you know of other movies where an image or a photograph played such a pivotal part? List your choices here in the comments section. If you see your choice already listed, please do not list it again.

Here is my choice: Chris Nolan’s Memento.

Now, it is your turn.

Haven’t read it but I knew way back when that Mira Nair had the script and was working on the cinema adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. Now thanks to Amit Gupta I caught the first glimpse of the movie – a trailer off of the Apple site. Check it out. Looks slick and very interesting. I am going to have to read the book now for sure.

[Via Jon Hicks]

I just read that Shekhar Kapur will again direct Kate Blanchett in The Golden Age, a sequel to Elizabeth, a 1998 Oscar-nominated film. I remember Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love both arrived in theaters at about the same time and they were both excellent period films.

Starting today, the South Asian International Film Festival will be in full swing in New York city.

Friend and film maker Anoli Patel wrote in to surprise me with some great news. The Hangman, a feature-length movie she and her production company Akshar Media have been laboring over was accepted into the festival and will have its US premiere on December 10, at 2 p.m. General admission is $13.

I urge you all to support independent film makers and producers. If you are in NYC this Saturday let’s try and meet up to check this film out.

Via Sree Sreenivasan

The celebrated film maker Ismail Merchant has died in London. He had been unwell and admitted to a hospital for stomach ulcers.

Merchant and his partner James Ivory were known for such movies “Remains Of The Day,” “Room With A View,” and “Howard’s End.”

Anyone read Merchant’s auto-biography “My Passage From India”?

Sakhi, Breakthrough & The New School present a screening of the film MAYA on March 18, 2005, 6:00-9:30 p.m.

“Maya is a powerful film by filmmaker Digvijay Singh that depicts community silence around violence against young girls – and the power of a young boy’s questioning. We look forward to your participation in a stimulating discussion on the involvement of men in the movement to end violence against women.”

The movie will be shown at 66 West 12th St (between 5th and 6th Avenues) Room 407. This is a FREE! event, though seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Men in the Movement to end Violence Against Women, a discussion moderated by Sunita Mehta, Founder of Women for Afghan Women will include the following speakers: Jon Gilgoff, Educational Alliance and Joe Samalin, Break the Cycle

This event is co-sponsored by Sakhi for South Asian Women, The New School, Lifetime TV’s “Stop Violence Against Women Week”, and Asia Society.