Why shoot film in 2016
You may ask yourself, in this digital age; why shoot film?
I shoot film for three reasons. I love the look of film, I feel that I can be more creative with film, and film slows me down.
Why do I love the look of film? Film has a classic look to it, kind of like an atheistic. The look of tri-x pushed to 1600 on Ilford multi-grade paper is what I really love when it comes to film. I embrace the grain when it comes to film. Sure digital images look great, but film grain looks a whole lot better than digital noise.
How can I be more creative with film than digital? With film I develop and print images by hand, no computer involved. With developing you can do standard developments, stand developments, or use monobaths. With digital you just put your SD or whatever other format you are using into your computer and post process from there. With film you can do so many things to get your image from when you click the shutter to what you see; with digital your camera does it for you and displays the image on the back LCD. Also with printing, you can use different types of paper, use contrast filters, different paper developers and fixers, the possibilities are endless. Sure with digital there are endless printer settings in your printer and Photoshop, but with film everything is hands on. Have you ever wondered why the burn tool in Photoshop looks like a hand? That’s because you use your hand to do the same burning effect on images in the darkroom.
Finally, film slows me down. First you shoot the film, you have either 24 or 36 shots in a roll; that is if you are shooting 35mm. Then, you process the film or send it off to a lab. For me, I generally wait 1-3 weeks to process my film. After the film processing is done, you either scan your film or start the printing process. I personally prefer to print my images rather than to scan them. So I make the contact sheet, send it through the trays, and then I can finally see all my images from that roll in one place. After this is done, I select the images I want to print, make test strips, and then enlarge images and send them through the trays one by one. Slowing down helps me distinguish between the good and the bad images, it makes it easier to critique myself.
Anyway, if you haven’t shot film before or want to get back into it, highly recommended by myself.
Timothy Prendergast @ 8:59 AM, 3/29/16
