Mariners Salute to the Negro Leagues: A look back on film
All photos by Liv Lyons
By Liv Lyons
On June 18th, 2022, the Mariners took the field as the Seattle Steelheads to honor Seattle's 1946 Negro League franchise. For any assignment, I primarily stick with a digital setup. Digital cameras are quick, efficient, and generally yield the best images for the job. But the importance of this game struck a chord, and I felt the need to modify my approach. I packed up my digital setup, as per usual, but also decided to bring my medium format kit to try and capture a more era-authentic feel. Since the Mariners were going to don the 1946 Seattle Steelhead uniforms, it felt fitting to approach part of the game with black & white film. I chose Ilford HP5 Plus 400, as I am partial to its contrast and clean grain. In an age where we can easily slap a film-looking preset on a digital image and call it a day, it was nice to connect back to a more manual version of this process and to have to be more intentional about each photograph.
Gear and film specs:
Mamiya 645 Pro TL camera
Sekor C 80mm F2.8 lens
Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film (black & white, 120)
