I started shooting 35mm film on my Grandmother's Mamiya 500 about 5 years ago. Prior to that, I'd shot digital for about 15 years on and off. Occasionally, I would use a disposable camera but I never got the hankering for 35mm film. So I started using the Mamiya 5 years ago and my first roll of film through it was uninspiring, to say the least. In retrospect, I thought it was the most amazing thing because I didn't use any batteries to take pictures. I thought it was like witchcraft and I was thoroughly intrigued by it. So I kept with it and after about 5 or 6 wasted rolls of film, I learned how to load film, shoot it, and rewind it properly. After those 5 or 6 rolls, I blew through about 5 more rolls of film before I realized that my Mamiya was fucking up and ripping up my film when I would rewind it. It was a frustrating experience when you have an awesome day of street shooting and bam it's gone because your old Mamiya isn't properly releasing the film from the spool. After this, I picked up a Mamiya 1000 for like 30 bucks on eBay and it was a great time till it crapped out also and I blew through 2 rolls of film. This forced me to learned about my camera more and I figured out the issue and corrected it. I kept shooting with it and it was pleasing.
Then the Leica M6 called out to me in a dream. I spent months doing research and justifying it to myself. It also helped to talk, to Bellamy Hunt a.k.a Japan Camera Hunter about it. He set me up on a great path to getting a solid M6. Fast forward to the day I get my Leica. I get it and rush home to load it with film. Then frustration sets in because after spending so much time researching the camera. I never researched how to load the camera with film. In my defense, I thought it would be like an SLR. Well, it's fucking not anything like an SLR. Leica has literally made a product that is perfect. It's designed to be user-friendly if you read it's manual. You literally just pull out the length of film to it's spool and you close it. Then you crank that lever and bam your film is loaded. Well, I did not bother reading the manual and somehow managed to load the film. It was an amazing first roll and was very pleased. I did the same with the second and third roll and everything was fine. Looking back at this period I was just getting lucky with the method I was using to load the film. Then came the 4th roll that I completely fucked away. I was like wtf Leica you were supposed to be my perfect camera. Little did I know that it was complete user error. I find a manual of the Leica M6 online and bam I see the error of my ways.
Fast forward to a week ago and I've shot countless rolls through my Leica at this point. Only I only really ruined one roll on it and it didn't even get that ruined. I just shot double exposures on it basically. Anyway, I am in Narita at the Naritasan Shinshō-ji Temple and I shoot this roll of Fuji 100 of 24 exposures and I am taking my time with it. I walk up to this temple and shoot some awesome scenes. If you go to this temple prepare to walk up a million stairs. So I am coming back from this temple and heading towards the train station and I look at the exposures I have left. I am on 27 and I am like wtf!!!!!! something is wrong here. I didn't freak out immediately because I usually get 25 to 26 shots on a 24. It's a perk of a rangefinder. I ran through some scenarios in my head of what could have happened. The best possible scenario being that it came undone from the canister but that's only happened to me once. I have a solution for that scenario.
Against my better judgment, though, I opened up my Leica and to my relief and rage. The film never spooled up. I figured out why after I loaded it and angerly ran through my exposures again and what you're seeing now is what I got. I literally just snapped and snapped at no particular thing because I was so angry that I didn't notice that I was not taking any pictures. The point of this post is that film is hard if you're dumb. A lot of issues can be corrected by simply reading the camera's manual or doing a bit of research and blowing a roll of film or two. Don't give up on film and shoot more of it. There are checks in place that prevent you from fucking up a roll of film. Take your time with film, and go through your steps slowly till you're one with your camera.
