Film Photography, Now and Then
I took this picture in 2019 at the start of the recent film revival era, but this wasn’t the first image that I made on film
I was born in 1988. Back then the notion of film photography didn’t exist because there was no such thing as digital photography. There was only photography and the act of creating an image involved working with a film camera. Today we have professional cameras in our pockets that do all the work with a press of a button (a screen, actually). With this said, what's the place of film photography in our time?
About learning the basics
Not everyone has to master the relationship between shutter speed / aperture / ISO - but everyone that works with a film camera knows that these things exist and are key to make an image. Most basic 35mm point and shoot have minimal controls for aperture and shutter speed, sometimes labelled as modes, that you can control to adapt to your shooting situations. With film photography the basics are common knowledge, while today these concepts are completely automated.
About respecting the process
From loading the canister, shooting and taking the canister out, there is a process that you have to follow when shooting film. After the images are recorded on film you have to develop and scan it, creating anticipation between the act of pressing the shutter and viewing the image for the first time. Everything has a time and place while with our smartphones everything happens all at once.
About having intention
Rolls of 35mm film have 24 or 36 exposures - this means you have limited opportunities to take photos. Let’s say you go on a weekend trip with your film camera and two rolls of film - this means that you have “only” 72 possible images. This limitation forces you to prioritise what you want to photograph. With smartphones you can shoot everything since you are not limited to the film length.
Is there a place for film photography in our time?
I believe that film has a place in our time. While the convenience of smartphone photography is undeniable since it democratises photography, it also opens a path to oversimplification, depreciating the value of an image. Considering that you can make good work with both digital and film, working with a film camera forces you to learn the basics, respect a process and have intention while making images. And also, shooting film is fun.