I love film. Not films, film. What an odd word, when I stop to look at it... film... meaning membrane, skin, or thin coating of something. It's been a while since I have taken pictures with my old camera, but I've rediscovered the joy of that marvelous machine. The way it reads where my eye is looking and focuses right there, the silky smoothness of the zooming lens, the speed with which the shutter makes its satisfying "kshhkkk", and the sweet pang of anxiety afterwards, wondering if the shot will look anything like the beauty that I saw.
I think it's safe to say that I have never taken a digital photograph which I felt could not have been improved by shooting it on professional negative or slide film. So why do I shoot with my digital camera at all? The common reasons: convenience, ability to see the results immediately, ability to upload photographs right away. But I rarely get around to sendng them to the printer and making real copies for the photo album- a major drawback. Why do I shoot film, then? My little digital cannot come anywhere close to the gorgeous color rendition and grain structure of professional film. There's a certain softness to film, the depth of field is more realistic, and skin tones and other colors are right on. (Of course, the images posted here look rather anemic compared to the real prints, but they're a hint to what I mean.) Besides, if I shoot negative film, I know I'm getting prints back which will become a part of our family's collective memory. 
Sure, I might be able to fix most of that with a high-end SLR digital back for my nice Canon lens and a really good Olympus printer. But I'm a little bit old-fashioned, and I hate to see good things fade away into the past completely. When I say I prefer film, I don't mean a $3 roll of Konica 200 speed that you get processed at the local drug store. No, digital has definitely surpassed that. I'm talking about PRO film, with all those delicate curves and extra layers of emulsion and the fickle need to be kept in the refrigerator. If you've never shot a landscape with Velvia, or a portrait with Fujicolor or Kodak Portra film, then you have not experienced the huge difference film can make to your everyday images. I'm not even going to get into the beauty of black & white film... not today. Nor am I going to bore you with the details of the amazing difference between 35mm, medium and large-format films. Some other time, perhaps. Today, it's enough just to gush over the old-fashioned beauty that can be captured in tiny bits of silver halides, dyes, and a plastic membrane called film.
1 comment:
Maren, that post sounded just like something on NPR. I mean that as a compement of course. A brief look into a part of the world that I am aware of, and yet obviously have not studied closely. To speak of the medium, and not what is being photographed and to still inspire is quite something. Here's hoping you spend a little more time with that camera in your hand, and that we get to se more of the results.
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