The me I want to be
Scenes from a Saturday at the farm
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
“I’m going to go to my aunt and uncle’s Christmas tree farm to help out, and also bring my camera with me!” No, that’s not the logline for a Hallmark movie- it was a genuine want of mine.
You see, my aunt and uncle own a tree farm out on the Key Peninsula and in late October of 2025, my uncle called me up and asked for tech help. Not for anything too ‘difficult’, just time consuming: he wanted to streamline the process of playing music outdoors when selling Christmas trees to people. “I’m not technologically illiterate, I’m a technological idiot” are direct words from the mouth of my 60-something year old uncle Joe, and I couldn’t help but smile at the request. Plus he paid me- and getting to spend all day cataloguing music on old iTunes in my uncle’s barn for money? What is better than that?
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
When it comes to Christmas and Christmas-adjacent activities, it turns out, there is not much better than that. I love my aunt and uncle, and they had dreamt about this farm for a long time. After my aunt’s cancer scare in the early 2010s, they decided to sell their (really nice) house and put all of their time and effort into building this tree farm. Not just to supply the community with Christmas trees and various holiday-related things, but also to be a place that uplifts kids and adults who are battling cancer.
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
PLUS I like to help. It was fun enough helping out my uncle, but I figured (or at least thought) that coming out to their opening day would provide a good opportunity to take pictures of actual people- and as a wannabe street photographer, that’s literally the dream.
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
That’s not me, but you… get the picture.
Audience applause.
Another dream of the wannabe street photographer? Finding another black and white film stock that actually works the way you’d wanted it to. I’d shot Kentmere film before to varying degrees of success, but I’d only shot Kentmere 200 once. It didn’t go well. My shots were out of focus, not well-metered, and generally had the air of “I’m trying out this film stock”. However, I am nothing if not a Mariners’ fan, and (their recent playoff run somehow both notwithstanding and also withstanding) that means I’m willing to again give a chance to things (and sports teams) that hurt me. So for reasons that I don’t honestly remember (as of this writing, this roll was shot 6 months ago), I had bought myself another roll of Kentmere 200. “Let’s see how this goes”- and it helped that I had a better camera that had program mode AND a better internal light meter.
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
Well, you can see the results. The images turned out being the crispest I’d really ever shot of a non-HP5 roll of black and white to that point. But it was more than that: it was a roll of film that better captured the emotions and the humanities of the people who came across my frame that day.
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
So when I title a blog like this “the me I want to be”, that’s kind of what I’m referring to- one who uses texture-y film to capture the better parts of what it means to be human. The real moments, the true moments, the candid moments. Getting to remember the tone people carried in their voices when they were talking about how best to cut a Christmas tree, or about what they were gonna do that afternoon, or how the Seahawks were doing that season.*
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
Maybe street photography really is as simple as “be a smiling face, ask permission, have good film, and check your camera’s battery”. But also, it’s flying on a wing and a prayer and a hope that the film stock you’re using works better for you this than last time.
Kentmere 200, shot on Canon Elan II at Helping Hearts Tree Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington; scanned/developed at Speedy ePhoto in Parkland, Washington.
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(My uncle has SO MUCH Coca-Cola merchandise.)
Wrapping-up thoughts:
I do have this roll of film’s negatives kept and sleeved. I conveniently left out of this blog post (and the Threads post that may have pointed you here) the shots I took of my aunt and uncle, cousins and their families- I gave them as prints for a very late Christmas present. It was pretty fun!
Speaking of fine art prints…
if you are reading this before June 7th 2026, come to my booth at the next Tacoma Sunday Market! Sunday, June 7th. I’ll be there selling as Aaron D Leach Photography.
And if you’re reading it after June 7th, I’ll certainly be posting about more markets.
Speaking of which- I am an LLC now, officially! Filed this last week after such success at the last Tacoma Sunday Market.
If you’re reading this and you came out to support/purchase something: thank you!
And if you’re reading this who didn’t do those things: thank you for reading this blog!
*The Seahawks ended up winning the Super Bowl, so whatever it is anyone was talking about? It ended up not mattering in the long run.
That’s all for this week!