I recently attended an artists retreat with some lovely people. There were photographers, sculptors, painters, poets and writers and some great cooks amongst them! We spent three nights at an old house on the far south coast of New South Wales. It’s there that many of the photographs featured in recent posts were taken. When I get around to it I’ll even publish them all in the same place when I can get my head around all the great things that went on there.
For this post though I wanted to talk about the beauty of film. I took two cameras to the retreat; my Nikon digital and my Mamiya medium format camera. I got the medium format negatives and scans back from the lab this week. When I first started out in photography there was none of this digital business. I learned to develop my own negatives and darkroom techniques for turning those negatives into photographic prints … the smell of acetic acid still holds a dear place in my heart as does the smell of a freshly opened pack of film. It’s a wonderfully analog process – layers of light sensitive emulsions on a clear base change chemically when exposed to light. I like to think that my post-processing of my digital pictures for the most part mimics what I could do in the darkroom albeit on a much compressed time scale. I rarely manipulate my images much beyond tonal controls and cropping anyways. While I have embraced the digital revolution and all the whizzbangery it offers the modern photographer … there’s something about shooting film (apart from its smell).
The saturation and dynamic range surpasses that of my digital camera (a D80) and the rendering of detail is a wonderful thing to look at. In the photo of friend Greer presented above I had a roll of (very out of date) Fujichrome NPC160 film … we’re talking EXP:2007(!) which was given to me by another friend who’d had the film in his fridge since then. The negs came back beautifully. I took a similar shot with the Nikon but it doesn’t have anywhere near the presence that this one has. Another consequence of shooting film is how much you value each frame. I get between 12-15 frames from a roll of medium format. I have to remind myself that it’s both not very many and ample! That and how spoiled I have become with auto-focus, adjustable ISO and instant preview. When shooting 35mm I still find myself instantly checking the back of the camera to see how the shot came out 😉
How about you? Are you purely digital? Did you transition from film to digital or have you only ever known digital? Have you returned to the beauty of film or picked it up anew? I’m interested in this … do tell!
My brother was a film photographer before his death in 1996, Geofff, and never had the chance to see digital. He had his own dark room and would certainly ditto everything you have written here. I wonder what he’d think of the digital options out there now. My 36-yr-old son also is a film photographer but never converted to digital because it “scares” him, he says. But he hasn’t done photography in awhile (long story). I really think he’d like digital if he tried it.
For me, I remember film days with my little Instamatic camera. I was NOT a serious photographer back then. I always wanted to be a painter but never got around to doing it. For me, the digital-camera manipulation tools are the next best thing to painting I’ve come across. So for me that’s what it’s all about…being able to use textures, etc. to make the image look like what my mind sees.
Ginnie, I think you hit the nail on the head with using the post-processing to make the image look like what your mind sees (or saw) and the tools available for PP are quite remarkable and so specific too. Perhaps your son is feeling some digital ‘performance anxiety’ at the instant review nature of digital photography? I know that I rarely show what I’ve just captured (unless it’s a cracker of a shot of course!) on the back of the camera … preferring to let it cook and simmer slowly for a while. In the film days there was never a chance to instantly review … OK there was Polaroid!
J’ai pratiqué la photographie argentique pendant la plus grande partie de ma vie. Aussi, ai-je conservé, dans ma pratique du numérique, tous les tics de la prise argentique. Comme toi, je pense le post-traitement comme je le faisais en labo. (En tous les cas, je ne m’autorise jamais à tricher avec le réel.) J’économise mes prises de vue comme s’il s’agissait encore de compter les images d’un film. Je n’utilise quasi jamais le live view et ignore la majorité des automatismes des modernes appareils numériques. Ceux-ci ont carrément tendance à me compliquer la vie. Le plus souvent, je renonce même à l’AF. Seule concession au numérique : je me permets un brin de bracketting pour éviter par exemple les yeux fermés en scènes de rue. Ceci posé, je comprends bien ta nostalgie du labo photo, les sensations, les odeurs, mais je ne regrette pas d’avoir enfin l’opportunité de travailler mes images avec les doigts secs et le cul sur un coussin. Ce qui ne m’empêche pas de bichoner encore mon vieux Canon AE1 et de songer à la prochain acquisition d’un petit Zorki argentique, clone soviétique de Leica dans les années ’30.
Google translate version:
I practiced film photography for most of my life. Also, I kept in my practice of digital, all the tics of taking silver. Like you, I think the post-treatment as I did in the lab. (In any case, I allow myself to never cheat with reality.) I save my shots as if they were still counting the frames from a movie. I almost never use the live view and ignores the majority of automation of modern digital cameras. They tend to have squarely complicate my life. Most often, I even renounces the AF. Only concession to digital: I would like a bit of bracketing to avoid such eyes closed in street scenes. That being said, I understand your nostalgia of photo lab, sensations, smells, but I do not regret having finally the chance to work my images with your fingers dry and ass on a pillow. This does not prevent me from bichoner still my old Canon AE1 and consider the next acquisition of a small silver Zorki, Leica Soviet clone in the ’30s.
Marco, ‘avec les doigts secs et le cul sur un coussin’ … you made me laugh. True but that joy of seeing the print appear in the developer was worth the wet fingers like prunes and I miss it. I’d never heard of a Zorki before your post. I googled it and it looks like a cool thing to play with. Of course now that I see them I recognise their profile from photographs from that Soviet era … are they terribly expensive?
Quand j’étais jeune et punk, j’étais fasciné par ce matériel qui demeurait inaccessible derrière le foutu mur de Berlin : Zorki, puis Zenit qui clônaient aimablement Leica en URSS, Praktica ou Pentacon en RDA qui ratissaient le jardin de Voigtländer, sans oublier les russes Lubitel en format 6×6. Cela me fascinait surtout parce que je savais ce matériel très accessible financièrement… mais il fallait cependant avoir de sacrés contacts pour en acquérir un exemplaire et j’étais décidémment trop jeune et trop punk pour avoir de tels pistons. Aujourd’hui, plus de souci avec internet : fais un tour sur ebay et tu constateras que tu peux te payer un Zenit ou un Praktica des années 50 pour 20 ou 30 euros. Quant aux ancètres Zorki, je me tâte pour en acquérir un modèle pour un peu moins de 40 dollars. Comparé à un Leica de la même époque, on est gagnants, non ?
Google translate version: When I was young and punk, I was fascinated by this material, which remained inaccessible behind the bloody Berlin Wall: Zorki and Zenit who kindly clônaient Leica in the USSR, Pentacon Praktica or in the GDR who were raking the garden of Voigtländer, not to mention the Russian Lubitel 6×6 format. This fascinated me especially because I knew the material very accessible financially … but it had yet to be sacred contacts to get one copy and I was decidedly too young and too punk for such pistons. Today, more concern with internet: go around on ebay and you will find that you can buy you a Zenit or Praktica 50 years to 20 or 30 euros. As for Zorki ancestors, I feels to get one template for just under $ 40. Compared to a Leica in the same time there is a winner, right?
That’s a very nice price. I think I can see the winner here 🙂
I still remember taking pictures with film but haven’t done this since about 10 years now and it’s always been only crude holiday or family snapshots. And I’ve never developed a film myself even though it would certainly be interesting and fun for me as chemist.
I only got a bit more interested in photography during a holiday in the U.S. 2008 and bought my first DSLR (Canon EOS 450D) in summer but didn’t really get into it until about a year ago as a side effect of my blog. I’m currently using a Canon EOS 550D and occasionally a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10EG-R and the camera of my mobile phone (Samsung Galaxy S). I’m still more or less playing around with the tools I have, two new lenses and Photoshop and being spoiled by digital I’m hesitant to give film a try even though it seems to offer really interesting possibilities and I’m playing around with textures at the moment anyway. A few weeks ago when I was looking for a new battery for my remote control, I stumbled over a simple and cheap one-way camera for underwater use so guess in a while I will have a new film experience. Looking forward to the results 🙂
Viola, as a chemist I think you’ll find the whole developing film thing fascinating. There would be an amateur film club somewhere nearby that would love to introduce to the smells and senses surrounding the processing of film. Nothing in photography I think matches that sense of wonder as your print appears in the developer tray … pure magic … like wondering how it is that aeroplanes stay in the air.
Now that the weather is warming up in your part of the world you’ll have to give the underwater camera a go. I don’t think we ever stop playing around with the tools we have … at least I hope not 🙂
Oh, I can’t imagine to stop playing around, it’s just too much fun. And guess what? I got carried away a bit and ordered a Lomography Diana+ so should probably really look into developing films. I have a few friends who are professional photographers so maybe I can bother them for advice 🙂
A Lomo Diana+ … cool! I look forward to seeing what goodness you come up with. Yes … go and bother your professional friends … they’d love to talk about film 🙂
Stunning photo. I’m an amateur photographer, but old enough to have used film and digital. I agree with everything you stated. But, I love that I don’t have to feel like I’m wasting anything. It frees me up to shoot freely. Sometimes, the shots that I never would have “wasted” my film on, are most interesting.
Elena, I have to agree with you on the idea of not wasting frames and being free to just take pictures you perhaps wouldn’t even consider when using film. That said, treating your film with thrift can enable you to be more composed when taking a shot … it can also be very frustrating missing a shot because you’ve forgotten to wind on to the next frame 😉
Vor ca. 14 Jahren, also etwa mit 21 bekam ich eine analoge Kamera geschenkt. Diese benutzte ich nur einmal. Als später die Lust zur Fotografie aufkam, kaufte ich mir einen digitale Kamera. Ich fotografiere ausschliesslich digital. Die Tochter meiner Freundin benötigt ein Semester lang eine analoge Kamera, ich gab ihr für diese Zeit meine seit 14 jahren aufgehobene. Mit zu erleben welche Freude sie damit hat, und wie sie die Fotografie entdeckt ist wunderschön. Als Dankeschön hat sie mir ein kreatives Geschenk versprochen, hergestellt aus den entstandenen und selber entwickelten Fotos. Ich bin sehr gespannt und freue mich!
Sobald das Semester vorbei ist und meine analoge Kamera wieder bei mir ist, werde ich mir einen Film kaufen, diesen versuchen einzulegen. Weiter muss ich mich mit der Kamera, sowie dem analogen fotografieren vertraut machen. Mal sehen ob es mir Freude bereitet.
Gruss
Claudia
Google translate version: About 14 years ago, so I got about 21 with an analog camera as a present. I used it only once. Later, when the desire for photography came along, I bought a digital camera. I shoot exclusively digital. The daughter of my friend needs a long term an analog camera, I gave my time for these 14 years since repealed. By experiencing the joy that she has, and how they discovered the photography is beautiful. As a thank you they gave me a creative gift promises made and the resulting self-developed photos. I am very excited and looking forward!
Once the semester is over and my analog camera is with me again, I’ll buy a movie, try to insert them. Next I need to make me take pictures with the camera, as well as the familiar analog. Let’s see if it gives me joy.
greeting
Claudia
It’s a lovely thing, film. And very good of you to lend something you were not using rather than hold onto it in case you might. I think you would like the creative opportunities that shooting film will bring to you. Your photography is gorgeous and I think you would take excellent pictures. It quite overtly makes you think differently about things … about the way you approach a subject. I think that’s a good thing for creative people … for anyone.
I hope you receive the gift you were promised … perhaps they can take you along to the darkroom to see it produced. You’ll get hooked if you see 🙂
Google translate version: Es ist eine schöne Sache, Film. Und sehr freundlich von Ihnen, um etwas, das Sie nicht verwenden würden, anstatt halten mit diesem Gerät im Fall könnten Sie leihen. Ich glaube, Sie würden die kreativen Möglichkeiten, die Dreharbeiten zu holen Ihnen gefallen wird. Ihre Fotografie ist wunderschön und ich glaube, Sie würden hervorragende Bilder zu machen. Es ist ganz offenkundig macht Sie denken anders über die Dinge … über die Art und Weise nähern Sie einen Betreff ein. Ich denke, das ist eine gute Sache für kreative Menschen … für jedermann.
Ich hoffe, ihr empfangen die Gabe euch versprochen wurde … vielleicht können sie nehmen Sie mit in die Dunkelkammer zu sehen, es produziert. Sie werden süchtig, wenn Sie sehen, bekommen 🙂
sometimes I love how film looks … but I never mastered my old film camera … maybe I’ll whip it out …
Thanks for stopping by Dennis 🙂
Taking a quick look at your website and blogs I reckon you’d love taking a few rolls … it’s a journey – it really is 🙂
Geoff
I shot slide film for years. The transition to digital was rough at first, but now I am getting used to it. I still post lots of film images on my blog, because I like the vibrant way it looks. But I don’t see going back. Mostly because of the expense and waste. And digital makes it easier for everyone to be a photographer! Yeah :^)
Slides are just fantastic to look at … I remember doing that as a kid with my father’s slides … holding them up and enjoying the rich colours of Ektachrome 🙂
You are quite right in that film has a different quality than digital captures, I wouldn’t necessarily say better, just different. I started in the film-business too, and particularly loved shooting colour transparencies. I was never hook on the dark room, but did a lot of work there, because I had to. I have embrace digital, if not completely so for the most part. For me the fact that you can shoot in any king of available light is one of the biggest advantages of digital capturing. The process of shooting film is quite different as you say, because you can’t just keep shooting endlessly, but even because you can’t judge the result right away. That gives a complete different approach to shooting, which is the reason I turn to film more than the difference in graphic quality.
Hey Otto, I agree wholeheartedly that the approach when shooting film is different and one to be savoured. The photographer needs to be more ‘considered’ in the way the shoot and compose.
Wow -what a wonderful image! I love the tones incredibly and your framing and depth of field are stunning too. The red and pink colours of her dress complement the green tones beautifully. Many compliments!
Martina, thank you. Coming from you the Mistress of shallow depth of field and striking colour it is high praise indeed for me. The film carries the feel far better than my digital rendition of the same scene … a real presence.
I used a film camera as a child/ teenager, but always felt restricted. it was too expensive, and I couldn’t do much to improve. no way of going back to take the same picture several times to figure out what works best.
I don’t see myself going back to film now. for environmental as much as creative reasons. I’m also getting a bit tired of seeing film everywhere, especially on many blogs. to post a blurry, under- or overexposed image as an ‘artsy’ analogue shot… no, I don’t think so.
I do get why people are doing it, though. the perfection of digital images + Photoshop can get boring, too, and the urge to give up some control is understandable.
I still haven’t mastered half of what my by now six year old DSLR can do and am thinking about getting a newer model. so for me it’s def going to be digital all the way.
Petra,
I think the proliferation of film-analogues like the intsagram filters and other ‘retro’ style filters also give an impression of a real resurgence in the look of film. I’m not of the school that believes film is somehow purer though the thrift of unexposed frames (you’re right … it is expensive) does make you think about your photography in a (at times very) different way. That said … I love the control I have using and processing in digital.
You mention the environmental costs too … a good and interesting point. On a recent retreat there were four of us shooting film … three using polaroid film backs as well as medium format and 35mm … the packaging! The bin was stuffed with wrappers and spent film developer. However we think of digital cameras giving us unlimited and ‘free’ image capture … the cost of getting the rare earths to make all those sensors and the mobile devices housing the majority of those sensors is a cost many of the users do not care about.
All that raving aside … your blog is a pleasure to visit and I hope to see you again soon 🙂
don’t get me started on instagram. it’s the best way to keep me away from a website or blog!
re: environmental issues. you do have a point. DSLRs have an environmental impact as well, and the initial cost in resources might be bigger than when acquiring what used to be ‘regular’ camers. I wouldn’t know. but when I look at the hundreds, maybe even thousands of prints and negatives I have, and am carrying with me when I move (and I move around a lot ;), or think about the thousands of pics I’ve taken since I went digital I’m glad that all they do is fill up my hard drive.
besides, I’m a graphic designer, I simply need everything in a digital format eventually…
glad you like my little online space. I’ll be def back to visit yours!
Part of me is just itching to start you on Instagram you know 😉
I don’t use that service but then I don’t have a phone that takes pictures either … I’m just struck by the ‘oh so retro’ feel of many of the images I see flowing past in my G+ stream. And you’re right about the storage of negatives and prints … so much space but so pretty to look at … just hold them up to the light … no monitor required 🙂