Shooting Film For the Handyman

Would you rather go to the lumber store, buy some cherry wood, finish it and hang the shelves on your wall or buy a premade system from Ikea that takes 30 minutes to put together? Would you rather unclog your own toilet, or call a plumber. Change your oil or take it to Jiffy Lube. You get the point. I’ve spent over a month in Cuba. There’s a saying there that every Cuban is an engineer. Out of necessity. There aren’t Home Depot’s or Auto Zone’s lining the streets of Havana. You must learn how to make things yourself. Use your hands to build something. Figure it out. It’s mostly preference here of course. But having been a handyman for a large portion of my life, I really enjoyed building things. I flipped my first house at 24. I was HVAC certified. I was a maintenance technician and supervisor for large residential properties. I loved doing plumbing, electrical and carpentry work. When I lived on a farm, we did a lot of handyman stuff to keep it running. I see parallels to my life as a Cuban engineer and shooting, developing and scanning film. My next stage would be printing. Maybe one day after I have more room. But my point is, do you like using your hands to create something or would you rather hire someone? I personally enjoy shooting both film and digital. But I do feel a higher level of satisfaction from shooting film. I could care less about the time it takes. It’s more fun.