I own and operate Smoky Mountain Marriage Proposals and recently I had a fellow contact me. Specifically, he said he knew his girlfriend liked a darker fall vibe and we made arrangements to go to Max Patch, a mountain bald that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

And then . . . Hurricane Helene hit.

With the closure of I-40, Max Patch was no longer an option so we opted for Cades Cove. Except I knew that the weather for this big day was not going to deliver a darker vibe - in fact, it was going to be bright and sunny. Hmmm . . .

What I did was bring along my Bronica S2A and go old school. Film. Analog. The Bronica is a medium format camera that produces a 6x6 image. I knew I could get a retro feel from it, with some grain courtesy of Kodak T-Max black and white film. It would still be sunny and bright but have a different vibe.

Yeah, film - even brought along my trusty light meter because, you know, the camera won’t tell me if I have the proper exposure as a digital camera would. This has inspired me and I want to incorporate more digital into my client work. I am told by my local camera shop that film is back, baby, and the majority of people coming in to get it developed and buy more film are under the age of 40.

Maybe it is time to have a dark room again.