Jay Rodriguez

Kodak @kodak quietly brought one of the most legendary color negative films back under a new name. Ektacolor Pro 800 is essentially the modern continuation of Portra 800 — now distributed directly through Eastman Kodak with updated retro packaging and branding. The goal seems to be reconnecting Kodak’s modern film lineup back to its historic “Ektacolor” roots while keeping the same professional-grade look photographers already know and trust. What makes this stock special is the balance. ISO 800 speed gives enough flexibility for low light, interiors, night streets, concerts, neon, and changing weather while still holding soft skin tones, smooth highlights, and surprisingly controlled grain for a fast color film. Kodak keeps emphasizing the exposure latitude and natural color rendering, which is why so many portrait, wedding, documentary, and street photographers built entire careers around the Portra look. This roll is getting loaded into the Canon AE-1 Program paired with the FD 50mm f/1.4 — one of my favorite combinations for handheld low-light work. Old-school Canon FD glass mixed with Kodak’s revived professional color negative stock just feels correct. Modern film revival running through 1970s hardware. Photos to come soon. #KodakEktacolorPro800 #ShootFilmStayBroke #CanonAE1Program #35mmFilmPhotography #KodakFilm

Earth Day at Discovery Green @discoverygreen on 35mm film. The soundtrack for the afternoon came from @freeradicalsband freeradicalsband while these massive hand-built wolf creatures from @wolfbat marched through the crowd looking like something between folk art, street theater, and a fever dream. Houston honestly does this kind of weird community energy better than people give it credit for. For this set I decided to test Harman Phoenix Azure 125 on the Canon AE-1 Program with the FD 50mm f/1.4. Azure has a really distinct look compared to standard color negative film — softer contrast, muted pastel tones, heavy warmth shifting into cyan and magenta, and a very experimental almost cross-processed feel. It doesn’t try to be clinically accurate or ultra-clean. The film feels unpredictable in the best way possible, especially under harsh Texas daylight where the color shifts start getting strange and painterly. That half-frame washout on the first image is actually part of the film development/loading process and I intentionally kept it in the set. The first couple frames on a roll are always a gamble because part of the film has been exposed while loading the camera and advancing the leader. Sometimes you get clean frames, other times you get light leaks, color shifts, streaking, or partial exposures like this. A lot of film photographers crop those out or delete them entirely, but I like including them because they remind people this is still a physical chemical process — not a perfect digital file. Every roll has a beginning where the film is literally being pulled into place through gears and rollers before everything settles correctly. On experimental stocks like Harman Azure, those imperfections can end up looking almost painterly or dreamlike instead of ruined. In this case the washed-out edge honestly added to the unique Earth Day parade atmosphere. #harmanazure #CanonAE1Program #35mmPhotography #DiscoveryGreen #ShootFilmStayBroke

Hardware dive. Taking a minute to show one of the cold war era machines in my camera arsenal — the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex IV. Built in West Germany in the late 1950s, this thing feels more like a scientific instrument than a camera. Leaf shutter. Selenium meter. Heavy metal construction. No autofocus, no electronics, no menus. The Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8 is the heart of it and honestly still produces gorgeous rendering decades later. One of the weirdest features is the interchangeable front lens element system Zeiss engineered around the built-in Synchro-Compur shutter. Peak German overengineering. Even the shooting experience is different. The mirror doesn’t auto-return after a shot, so every frame forces you to slow down and think. Mechanical photography in its purest form. I also found a couple original late-1950s Contaflex ads and they’re amazing Cold War-era time capsules. Zeiss Ikon marketed the camera as a precision West German machine built around sharp Zeiss optics and futuristic features like interchangeable lens elements and a built-in exposure meter on the Model IV. At the time this was advertised as cutting-edge technology. Nearly 70 years later, the same fully mechanical camera is still working and still making images. That’s part of the magic of these older systems — they aren’t props or shelf pieces. They’re industrial history still doing exactly what they were designed to do. #ZeissIkon #ContaflexIV #RolleiRetro400S #FilmPhotography #VintageCamera

Kodak Tri-X 400 in a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex IV just feels correct for this kind of work. Old glass. Mechanical shutter. Black and white emulsion that has documented protests, wars, labor movements, and ordinary people for generations. I wanted these frames to feel less like “content” and more like recovered newspaper negatives from another decade. There’s something poetic about documenting a modern political rally with a camera built during the Cold War era. The same style of machinery once used to document civil rights marches and anti-war demonstrations now pointed at another generation trying to define what comes next. The No Kings rally in Houston carried every kind of energy at once — anger, exhaustion, humor, solidarity, spectacle, and confusion under brutal Texas sun. Tri-X handled it exactly how Tri-X always has: deep blacks, glowing highlights, rough grain, and enough latitude to survive harsh midday contrast without killing the moment. What I love about shooting demonstrations on older cameras is the forced pace. No autofocus. No spray-and-pray bursts. Every frame has to be anticipated. The Contaflex IV slows everything down just enough to make you actually observe before pressing the shutter. #kodaktrix400 #filmphotography #photojournalism #streetphotography #nokingshouston

Testing the new @kodak Kodak Ektacolor Pro 400 at the Sunday morning car meet at POST HTX. Bright Texas sun, chrome, paint reflections, and classic JDM builds felt like the perfect environment to see what this stock could really do. Shot on the Canon AE-1 Program with FD glass — 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8, and 70-210mm f/4. First impressions? Rich blues, strong reds, clean grain, and that nostalgic late-90s import magazine vibe straight out of camera. Film feels alive again. #Kodak #ektacolorpro400 #HoustonCarScene #JDM#carphotography

Kodak @kodak really came out swinging this year. Eastman Kodak started reclaiming and rebranding parts of their film lineup after years of the Kodak Alaris split, bringing back names like Ektacolor and Ektapan with these retro boxes that honestly look incredible. A lot of people are already calling Ektacolor Pro 400 the spiritual successor to Portra 400 — same professional daylight-balanced color negative feel, now directly under the Eastman Kodak banner again. So naturally, I had to test a fresh roll. Took the Canon AE-1 Program out to the Sunday morning car meet at POST HTX under brutal Texas sun. EV 15 all morning. Bright blue skies, chrome, glossy paint, crowds, motion — basically the perfect test environment for a new stock. Shot with the FD 50mm f/1.4, FD 28mm f/2.8, and FD 70-210mm f/4. First impressions? This stock loves sunlight. Reds punch hard without looking fake, blues stay rich, and the grain stays surprisingly controlled for a 400 speed film. The GT-R taillights, Honda valve covers, and reflections all came back with this clean late-90s import magazine vibe that feels weirdly nostalgic in the best way. And honestly… these new Kodak boxes are working on me. Feels like film is alive again. #MadeWithKodak #Kodak #EktacolorPro400 #Ektacolor400 #KodakFilm #KodakProfessional #KodakColorNegativeFilm #ShootFilmStayBroke #BelieveInFilm #FilmIsNotDead #AnalogPhotography #35mmFilm #35mmPhotography #FilmPhotography #CanonAE1Program #CanonFD #FD50mm #FD2828 #FD70210F4 #PostHTX #HoustonCarScene #JDM #GTR #SkylineGTR #HondaCulture #CarPhotography #AnalogVibes #GrainIsGood #ShootFilm #StayBrokeShootFilm

Duncan Hall, Rice University Duncan Hall This one wasn’t luck — it was controlled chaos. Tripod locked, shutter open for 2 seconds at f/4… then mid-exposure, I broke the rules and panned the camera. That movement turns static architecture into something almost painterly — light trails stretch, structure melts, and the space feels alive rather than rigid. Shot on @cinestillfilm Cinestill 800T — and this is exactly where that film shines. Tungsten-balanced, so those warm interior lights go nuclear orange while everything else falls into those cool teal/green tones. It’s not neutral, it’s not “accurate”… it’s cinematic. What you’re seeing is time compressed into a single frame. Not a moment — a motion. Canon AE-1 f/4 • 2 sec • tripod + manual pan Cinestill 800T Developed by @onehrfilm

NEW (OLD?) KODAK DROP 🎞️🔥 Finally got my hands on the new Ektacolor Pro + Ektapan lineup and yeah… I’m running full tests on these immediately. First off — can we talk about these boxes?! Kodak @kodak absolutely nailed the retro revival. That yellow/red/black hits like straight-up 90s pro lab energy. Feels like something you’d pull off a shelf next to your dad’s film stash. Now here’s the real nerd talk 👇 These “new” films aren’t exactly new emulsions — they’re basically Kodak bringing everything back under the Eastman Kodak umbrella and rebranding the classics with legacy names. • Ektapan 400 / P3200 → think T-MAX DNA (clean grain, sharp, push-friendly) • Ektacolor Pro 400 / 800 → basically Portra lineage (that smooth color, wide latitude) Same core look. Same performance. Different name. Different box. Whole different vibe. And honestly? I’m not mad at it. Kodak is leaning heavy into its legacy — bringing back names that have been gone for decades and putting them in fresh circulation again. For me, this is less about “new film” and more about a reset moment in film photography: Kodak reclaiming its identity… and making film feel current again. So yeah — testing begins now: 🎯 street 🎯 night 🎯 live music 🎯 probably some chaotic Houston energy Let’s see if the vibe matches the branding. #MadeWithKodak #kodak #ektapan400 #ektapanp3200 #ektacolorpro400 #ektacolorpro800 #kodakfilm #kodakprofessional #shootkodak #kodak35mm #filmphotography #analogphotography #35mmfilm #ishootfilm #filmisnotdead #staybrokeshootfilm #analogvibes #grainisgood

Phoenix Rising — Harman Phoenix 2 at No Kings, Houston Selects from a roll of @harmanphoto Harman Phoenix 2 shot in the middle of the No Kings rally at Houston City Hall, March 2026. This film leans hard into its own character—warm tones, heavy grain, and that unpredictable color shift that makes every frame feel a little raw and alive. Downtown Houston was loud, layered, and moving fast—crowds, signs, conversations all colliding at once. Phoenix 2 handles that chaos in its own way… not clean, not clinical, but honest. It doesn’t smooth anything out—it translates the energy as it hits the emulsion. Shot handheld, staying mobile, letting moments come and go without overthinking. Some frames land sharp, others drift a bit soft—but that’s part of the language with this film. It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence. Shot on: Canon T90 FD 50mm f/1.4 + FD 28mm f/2.8 Developed by @onehrfilm #harmanphoenix #phoenixfilm #filmphotography #35mmfilm #lomography #shootfilmstaybroke #analogphotography #filmisnotdead #grainisgood #streetphotography #documentaryphotography #protestphotography #houstonphotographer #houstonart #cityhallhouston #urbanstories #analogvibes #nophotoshop #straightouttafilm

Infrared doesn’t freeze moments—it stretches them. Hermann Park, Lake Overlook. What looks still isn’t. Those leaves? Slight wind + 3 second exposure = painted motion baked straight into the negative. @filmphotographyproject FPP Infrared + Hoya R72 shifts everything—foliage glows, shadows deepen, and anything moving becomes part of the frame instead of separate from it. No tricks. Just time + light. A huge part of this look is the lab—shoutout to 1hr Photo Lab / Instagram @onehrfilm for the dev & scans. Lab choices matter more than people think. Canon T90 • FD 28mm f/2.8 • FPP Infrared • Hoya R72 • f/16 @ 3 sec • Tripod

Montrose Nights — Pan F, Flash, and a Moment of Yes Shot on @ilfordphoto Ilford Pan F Plus 50 with a Canon T90 and a Speedlite 300TL, this frame came out of a simple interaction that turned into something real. Montrose at night has layers. You’ve got the bars, the neon, the polished side—and then you’ve got the people living in between it all. Some are chaotic, some are just navigating a rough stretch, and some are just curious when they see someone walking around with an old film camera in 2026. That curiosity is usually the doorway. We started talking. No rush, no agenda. I asked if he wanted his photo taken—he said yes—and then hit me with this full wingspan pose like he’d been waiting for the moment. Arms out, locked in, owning the frame. That’s the thing about shooting film out here—especially with something like Pan F at ISO 50—you don’t get to fake it. Light is limited, so the flash becomes part of the language. The Speedlite 300TL cuts through the dark and freezes the moment exactly as it is. No smoothing it out. No hiding it. Just presence. Pan F brings that fine grain, sharp detail, and deep contrast that makes every line in his face and every texture in the scene matter. It doesn’t glamorize—it documents. And that’s the whole point. Shot on: Canon T90 Canon Speedlite 300TL Ilford Pan F Plus 50 Specs: ISO: 50 Lighting: Direct flash (low light street) Lens: FD mount 50mm f/1.4 Location: Montrose, Houston, TX A quick conversation. A yes. A fraction of a second locked on film. #ilfordpanf #panf50 #blackandwhitefilm #filmisnotdead #lomography #shootfilmstaybroke #analogphotography #35mmfilm #flashphotography #speedlite300tl #canonT90 #streetphotography #montrosehouston #houstonphotographer #documentaryphotography #urbanstories #grainisgood #filmcommunity #staybrokeshootfilm

Some spaces aren’t designed… they’re composed. This is Lovett Hall at Rice University — the backbone of the campus, designed in 1912 by Ralph Adams Cram. Not Gothic like most universities of that era… but Byzantine-inspired, built specifically for Houston’s heat, light, and flat landscape. Long, narrow, and intentional — over 300 feet stretched out just to let air move through it in this humidity. And you feel that design when you stand here. Shot on KONO! Monolit 3 Canon T90 + FD 28mm Rated at ISO 6 This film doesn’t care about color. It cares about structure. Orthographic, contrast-heavy, unforgiving — it strips the scene down to geometry and light. Which is exactly what this space was built for. Those arches? Rhythm. Those shadows? Precision. That corridor? A vanishing point engineered into existence. Cram didn’t just design buildings — he designed how you move through them. Even the rows of live oaks outside were planted to create direction and depth across an otherwise flat Houston landscape. So when that light hits just right… You’re not taking a photo. You’re stepping into a system of lines, scale, and intention that’s been working for over a century. This frame wasn’t found. It was waiting. #35mmfilm #filmphotography #monolit3 #blackandwhitephotography #canonT90 #riceuniversity #houstonphotographer #architecturephotography #shootfilmstaybroke #analogforever #slowphotography #grainisgood #urbangeometry