I am beginning to really enjoy taking pictures with film these days.
As I’ve said, in my early days of photography – back in the 80s when digital didn’t exist – my experiences were all really bad. I had no training and no idea what to do. Maybe it is because my own family didn’t take pictures, so my experience with photography was very, very limited. I had no idea what made a good picture as far as composition, and no idea how to make a good exposure. Hundreds of dollars in printed ugliness was no reward, but the best deterrent!
Enter the digital camera, some classes, lots of reading, and now I think I can go out and take a few shots in film without screaming at the results. One reason is I can get digital images, rather than prints. Costs are $10 – $11 / roll of film. I have my own scanner. Now, I am learning how to shoot film, such as lowering the iso for richer color and better contrast. I am learning how to use my software to do post production, which may seem like cheating, but it is simply a digital vs. chemical darkroom. Film still retains the quality of film, even if digitized – at least, it seems to me it does!
One of the most fun things about film is trying out different types of film, and finding ones I like. I have tried Tri-X, T-Max, Superia, Rollei Crossbird, UltraMax, Ektar, and have a few others. It’s really cool. Developing B&W is going to happen with greater frequency, and later, developing color.
What have I gotten out of this? Patience with composition. Appreciation of digital and analog film processes. A sense of success. And a whole hell of a lot of fun!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 