Nowadays being authentic and different has become a goal and to do that you either come up with something new or you either “bring the old back”. This is an era where taking a photo is more common than anything else, so this combined with the need for authenticity brought film photography back.
I’ve heard a lot of divided opinions saying that youngsters are into this kind of photography, just because “Retro look is trendy now”. But shooting film is not just about aesthetics.
I’ve always been a fan of film photography, and since I was younger I was fascinated by the process of developing a photo. And the fact that you only have a limited number of shots and being able to see the result, in the end, makes you more attentive to details and makes you think twice before pressing the shutter button. Picture this, you are with your friends somewhere and you want to frame this moment, so you take out your film camera and look for the perfect angle and the perfect light just to take the perfect photo, you press the button and the moment when you see the photo in your hand after developing it is absolutely priceless. The satisfaction when you see the developed photos and they turned up amazing gives you a way bigger satisfaction than just taking a photo with your phone
Right now we have Canon, Nikon and Sony pushing the limits and they left me speechless with what you can do with a camera. I recently shot on a Sony A9 and I was impressed by the quality of the photos, I couldn’t believe that you can take those sorts of photos. Even though we have that now, Sony could announce tomorrow 200-mega-pixels camera and I would still prefer shooting on film just for the experience. And not to say that shooting film is way cheaper, you can find a decent film camera for 100$ and the 35mm film goes for 10$, whereas a new good digital camera goes for at least 1000$.
For me, shooting film is like therapy in a too fast-moving world. Today, we have our heads in all different places and we are more and more absent-minded every day. Film photography is about being present. Imagine that you would have to frame your life in just 36 photos, just 36 moments, wouldn’t you want those images to be perfect and memorable, it may be a little bit of a cliche but I’m afraid that if we continue to be absent, we won’t have 36 moments to frame.
How long would this trend of shooting film last? I don’t know, but I hope that this trend is here to stay.
hARTS magazine 