See UT Vols football pics shot on 35mm film by millennial photographer

I'm sitting in the end zone and Tennessee's quarterback is ready to throw for a touchdown against Missouri. There are only three frames left on my roll of film and I think to myself, "That's more than enough."

I could never understand that pressure older photojournalists told me about when shooting film in stressful situations. What if there's a big play and I run out of shots? When do I change out my roll? Is the film winding? All of these what-ifs have been eliminated with the advent of digital.

So why did I dust off the old film cameras and make my life difficult by shooting an important event like Tennessee Volunteers football on 35mm film?

Because it's different.

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The cameras are ancient, the autofocus system is unreliable, the limit of only 36 photos on a roll of film; the list of woes goes on. The last time the Nikon F4 and F5 cameras I used on Saturday were in Neyland Stadium was probably 1997. The 1998 championship season was photographed with one of the first digital cameras, the Kodak DCS 620 by staffer Michael Patrick. 

Here's a few things I learned shooting film on the sidelines.

1. Think before you shoot

Just because you see something cool doesn't mean you should take a picture of it. Many times I'll snap a photo of something with my digital cameras just to see what it will look like. With film, that's one less photo on your roll, and you wasted it. 

Wait for the composition, the light, the moment, the focus, everything to come together. Whether I was shooting the Vol Walk or the action coming down the field, I kept asking myself, when (or if) I should hit the shutter. From experience I've learned to recognize if a play will happen or not, and this helped me better determine when to take a photo. 

2. No spray & pray

This was probably the most difficult part about shooting sports on film. When a play is coming down the field, I usually fire off several photos and hope something turns out. But with film you have to time it just right so that you don't burn through 10 photos on accident. Not to mention, the autofocus system is not as accurate as today's flagship cameras, so I really had to be careful that the focus would keep up. 

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Like I mentioned above, having three photos in the end zone is more than enough. One shot for the catch, one shot for the celebration, one shot for just in case. You just have to be selective and know when to shoot.

3. Appreciation

Sitting in the media room after the game, I was heckled relentlessly by fellow photographers. "Hey, you're missing your LCD screen!" and "Did you download your film yet?" or "Did you get the touchdown shot? Yeah? Too bad we can't run it in print tomorrow!"

But as soon as I hit the film rewind button on the F5, and its soft whir noise floated through the air, everyone stopped and went quiet. "Boy that takes me back," someone said from across the room. Which brings me to my last point – appreciation.

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Using these old cameras and shooting ASA 400 and 800 film (pushed two stops) made me appreciate how far technology has come and how good today's cameras are. Being able to review images on your LCD screen and download them immediately to your laptop is remarkable.

Sitting in the office late at night cutting six strips of film, putting them into sleeves, finding the selects, scanning them into the computer and then finally captioning – it's a process. I can't even imagine developing the film myself, much less doing all of these things on deadline. I've gained a lot of respect for the photographers who did this for decades of their careers. We young folks truly have it easy. 

The question I ask myself now is, would I do this again, shoot film for an assignment? Of course. It was way too much fun! Plus the photos look pretty cool and vintage, so why not?

Follow Calvin on Instagram@cmattheisphoto or Twitter@CalvinMattheis