Shooting Film

Being 50+ years old, my photography journey started with film. Shooting film is a comfort thing for me. It’s a return to my roots, a time from my younger years. It’s a much slower process than shooting digital. Don’t get me wrong, I love shooting digital too. It serves its purpose. Digital is kind of run and gun where you can take as many shots as you’d like because there’s no real cost doing so other than your time. With film, the amount of shots are limited to what format you’re shooting and how much film you have. Every shot costs money so I find myself being a bit more selective on what I shoot. I take more time to find the right composition. This wasn’t always true as I’d run and gun with my film too when I first started shooting it again. The transition back to film from digital was a bit of an adjustment. Getting that first roll back and seeing how most of the photos sucked was an eye opener. Paying about $34.00 for 36 photos that weren’t very good was a disappointment to say the least. Above is a shot from my first roll back in 2019.

Another cool part of shooting film is that you have no idea how the shots turned out until you get them back from the camera shop. It always feels a bit like Christmas morning. You know that feeling of excitement when you start to open your presents on Christams morning? That’s the feeling I get when I get to see my developed film for the first time.

I encourage you to pick up a film camera and give it a try. I think you’ll like it too.