21 May 2024 Photography Aday

Auburn's A-Day Through Vintage Film

A few weeks ago, Auburn had their annual spring football game, also known as the A-Day Game.

Auburn's A-Day Game on Portra 400 Film (view full res)

A few weeks ago, Auburn had their annual spring football game, also known as the A-Day Game, where the offense plays the defense and fans get a sneak peek at the team for the fall. This year, I did something a little different and brought my Canon AE-1 film camera along with a roll of expired Kodak Portra 400 film.

After digging deep into some files, I found that I had bought this film back in 2016, so it was several years expired, and I had no idea if anything would turn out at all. I shot the film at ISO/ASA 320 to overexpose it by about half a stop, and then just a little more when I was in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

My Canon AE-1 Film Camera (view full res)

This is the first roll of film I've had developed in years. I first had to get new light seals on my Canon AE-1 before I could even load a roll (thanks to our local Cameragraphics that was easy), but other than that, my Canon has held up pretty well considering it's over 40 years old. The first frame (the last in the gallery below) was the only one that didn't develop fully, and that was my fault. I had loaded the film incorrectly and had to rewind the sprocket to catch the leaders, knowing something got messed up in the process. Still, I'm pretty impressed with the results from 8-year-old film and a 40-year-old camera.

These images are some of the most unique I've been able to take of Jordan-Hare Stadium over the years. I was able to walk around the entire stadium and get some shots over the top edge, which I can never do during the fall football season. And I love the images of the concessions with empty concrete hallways. All the images below are unedited, just as the lab sent them back to me. Film is such a good reminder that composition and subject placement are still as important as they always have been. The grain and texture of film images are just so unique they have a timelessness about it each frame.

I included pretty much the entire roll of film below so the last few shots were here at the house, those were actually shot first on the roll.