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Are photographers "going film?"


When I was making the photographs of the baptisms on the local beach earlier this summer there was a guy just along from me using an M6. His 9 yr old grandson was with him using an Olympus XA2.
 
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Yeah, the weekly resurrgence thread. But you have to admit that there are more stories floating around lately regarding new affinities for using film over the other. The top two reasons I encounter are finances and aesthetics.
 
Interesting that someone would develop film to impress the ladies. I would do it to impress a digi photographer that is any age that is male or female. I am young...I don't see that working that well. Many younger people have no idea what a darkroom is! I should do a survey at my highschool....not.
 
Regarding the "fashion" angle, don't discount those Lomographers, Holgaphiles, and customers at Urban Outfitters who see a film camera as a way to be "different." Of course it's all marketing, and maybe it doesn't seem serious, but if it keeps film manufacturers and labs in business, and a few people decide to dig a bit deeper and pursue photography more thoroughly then I would only encourage it.
 
I'll believe that film is back when Kodak reintroduces Panatomic X.
 
I believe there is a resurgence and commitment to film over the last couple years especially. Digital is horribly costly to do it right for the average person; hardware, software, inputing and output devices, color management and add in the complexity of the steep learning curve and work flow duration and it becomes a horribly boring, expensive, frustrating experience for anything beyond a typical snapshot. The instant gratification of being able to apply a filter or change a color can be fun and attractive at first so that has surely attracted some people that just desire quick results and nothing else matters to them. Of course the work those pixographers produce looks like it as well. Just the costs alone are far worse than traditional. BUT, one can get some investment into film too if they try to be very diversed in multiple tools and materials. I think the tangible aspects to working with film are the true attraction. There really is an addictive aspect to processing and printing a roll or sheet of film. You actually feel like you have accomplished something, not the feeling you get with a computer and an Epson. It's like the image is turned over to a second party. As for the young folks picking up and using cameras I believe their generation can appreciate the quality traditional brings in the type of equipment and in the overall process compared to the typical modern pixography offerings to them in this current marketplace. Also, youth in general is counter culture so if digital is being handed to them many will seek an alternative and vice versa. Overall, I am seeing more and more attention being focused back on traditional imaging. The marketing hype of digital is getting old it seems .... same o , same o.
 
I think it is natural that things move back a little. When digital came on it was the rage. Now it's just that way everybody does stuff. Most younger photographers find nothing particularly exciting about digital process. It's about exiting to them as toast, and all they have known. Then comes this other thing, exotic, artistic, and requires learning an interesting skill set that can evolve over a lifetime, much like a martial art... it's called film.
 

Why, that would be a K-1000 of course!
 

do you shoot 4x5? start him on that .

naw, throw a rolleicord or yashicamat his way. thats the way to learn proper film photography (at least in my book) .
 
What do you have against toast? Im 15, ive been shooting medium format and 35mm ( can process and shoot 4x5, just not very interested in it )film exclusivley for about two years. A lot of my friends and young photographers like myself ( 15- 21 ) are shooting film as well. And no, were not doing it because we want to be hip little lomographers from urban outfitters, we actually really hate when people use that misconception so much.
 
Film is cool again

SchwinnParamount said:
My 21 year old son wants to learn b&w film processing to "impress girls". If that works then I guess film is cool again.
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I work in an office with several woman half my age. None as far as I know have stepped foot in a darkroom,but all agree the BW prints I put up on my cube wall are better than any digital photos they have ever seen. BW film is just cool.
 

Your barking up the wrong tree. I have a hard time considering most lomography as serious work, and that isn't what I meant. Lomo is pretty much anti-skill set.

Why are you shooting film?
 
Interesting thread going on here, complete with fledgling teenager and long time experienced professional.

I had an interesting encounter recently. I put a Yashica up for trade here and for sale on Craigslist. It sold on Craigslist without a lot of effort. The buyer a young guy, just getting his feet wet with film. Now, I'm by no means even in the same category as Jason or other pro's, but I do have a lot more experience than this fellow who bought my camera. I offered to him the opportunity to shoot a roll of film I gave him with the camera and we would develop it together, and then we'd also do some enlargements and a contact print, yadda yadda. Man, this fellow just soaked it up like a sponge. It was quite a rewarding experience for me. I may have gained a new friend in life...

Anyhow, I noticed that the younger set seems, in general, mind you I realize this sounds stereotypical and yes I'm saying that it is, but the younger set crowd seems to be encouraged by capturing their "reality", and that to them is their art. Now I don't know if that will later blossom into landscape or conventional portraiture or the like, but it does seem to me to be at first kind of in a way whimsical. But to my new young friend, it is not whimsical in a negative sense. To him it is like a treat.. to capture that moment in time and freeze it forever. Oh he got started first with digital and he has a digital camera I wouldn't mind owning to be honest, but he's way more enthralled by the film. Even though he seems content with the whimsical capturing of reality, I'm going to see if I can't feed him with the idea of transforming reality into art and take him on some field trips sometime soon.

Anyway that is all I wanted to say. Nothing really profound...
 

That is really, really cool.
 
JBrunner said:
Your barking up the wrong tree. I have a hard time considering most lomography as serious work, and that isn't what I meant. Lomo is pretty much anti-skill set.

Why are you shooting film?
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Wow. Why don't you just tell him to leave APUG? And tell all his friends too. Only old men who spend 20 minutes to shoot B&W 4x5 of trees or rocks need sign up here.

Regards, Art.
 
On a gloomier note....

elekm said:
A recent article in Amateur Photographer says that processing of black and white film rose 45% in a year, at least in the U.K.
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'Printing and processing of black & white film has shot up 45% in a year, signalling a resurgence of interest in traditional 'silver gelatin' prints among photographers, according to figures released by Ilford Photo.'

While I'm very glad to see Harman's processing service doing well, (and more importantly that 120 sales are up), I'm a bit pessimistic about the actual tone of the article in AP. Looks a bit like a well quoted press release. I'm pretty sure that black and white processing has not gone up 45% in the UK as the introduction suggests, but instead refers to one processing service. Having worked in professional labs since the early 80s, it doesn't feel so optimistic these days!
 
Impressing girls...

When I was young, in the early 70's, my interest in photography never impressed girls. In fact, my girlfriend at the time used to refer to my photography not as a "hobby" but as a "habit!"

My wife is much more tolerant; she retires to her studio to paint (a.k.a. "the pretty room") when I am in my darkroom.
 
My eldest son (mid-twenties now) always had, to my mind, a "good eye". He was the photographer for his high school. He had no interest in pursuing it seriously however, (probably 'cos that's what Dad did!) Went off to college and found himself on the field, taking photos of the football team for the school mag. (This was at Notre Dame) and became the Photo Editor for said mag. Having rubbed shoulders with the "pros" he went straight to ICP after graduating and is now a working photojournalist. Of course it's all digital and he's always regarded my passion for film as understandable - because I'm an old fart.

Well, I've almost got my darkroom set up again and the other day my son say's to me: "Dad, I need to start using film again - it's just more expressive for my personal work. Can you help me?"

THAT'S MY BOY !!!

Bob H
 
Quite often for a gag, I ask my friends if they want to see the 24 megapixel camera I purchased for 200 bucks. When they say "yes, yes", I pull out my used Nikon FM2n.

I then explain that scanning the negatives with a 4000 DPI scanner translates to 24 MPixels, and at that resolution, you can begin to see the grain of the finest grain films
 

I love it! Way to go.

Jeff
 
gr82bart said:
Wow. Why don't you just tell him to leave APUG? And tell all his friends too. Only old men who spend 20 minutes to shoot B&W 4x5 of trees or rocks need sign up here.

Regards, Art.
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You are barking up the wrong tree too.
 
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