In April, when the harbour is still grey, I like to watch someone else’s spring arrive on film.

This one is a slow walk through Madrid on 35mm, shot by someone who stops for flowers and street corners. I have never been there. Winter hangs on here until the end of the month, and a few minutes of somebody else’s warm light does more for my mood than most things I could buy.

Why film suits the season

There is a softness to colour film in spring that I have never managed to get on a phone. Greens go slightly yellow. Shadows stop being black. Nothing looks sharp, and nothing needs to be. It is forgiving in the way that the first warm day is forgiving, when everyone is out of doors and nobody minds waiting for a table.

Small white flowers among green leaves
The first thing to come up on the bank behind the house.

What I do about it

  • Keep one roll of colour film in the fridge for the first good week.
  • Shoot at about ten in the morning, before the light goes hard.
  • Photograph the ordinary things that have changed since March.
  • Do not wait for the blossom to be perfect. It will not wait for you.

You can miss spring by trying to get a good picture of it.

By the time the film comes back from the lab, the blossom has usually gone, and the pictures arrive like a letter from a slightly earlier version of the year.

Video: Travel through my camera on YouTube. Embedded here, not made by me.

Sample content for The Pixel, a fictional personal blog.