Hello from Europe

Hello,

I've been a "silent reader" here for years, but I think it is finally time to register .
Born in Switzerland with father and mother from Germany and Austria, grandparents partly from the Netherlands, and former ancestors also from Denmark and Sweden, I am and feel as a European completely ;-).
Also because my profession led me to several European countries, and currently I am working mostly in Berlin.
A city with a very active film photography scene.
I am taking photographs since my childhood, and I have never stopped using film. During the "digital revolution" I have also done a lot in digital imaging, but for several reasons now I am mostly back to film, with 90-95% of my photography being shot on film again.
I am looking forward to very interesting discussions and information exchange with you!

Regards, Martin

 

"Moin moin" und vielen Dank !

 

Thank you all for your kind words and the friendly welcome!

Oh, from my experience there are also very active film communities in London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Warszaw, St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In Germany there is also quite a lot going on in Hamburg, Cologne, Hanover, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dresden and Leipzig. Of course not as much as in Berlin, but the local scenes are also growing.

 

Oh, there are lots of very different reasons. Just to list some of the most important:
- I prefer the look of film, for me it looks much more natural and 'organic' than digital; digital looks always a bit artificial to me.
- The film look cannot be emulated by software: If you compare real film and film emulation it always looks different. If you want the film look, you have to shoot film, if you want the digital look, you have to shoot digital. Period.
- Film has much better archivability: It is long term stable and archiving is much much cheaper and easier than digital long term storage.
- I do like film cameras more.
- In my case shooting film is cheaper.
- In my job I am sitting in front of a computer all day long. I don't want to do the same in my rare free time. So film for me is like "vacancy" from the boring computer work in my job. It is relaxing when I print in my own darkroom, so much fun and creativity! The same is valid when i look at my brilliant slides on the lighttable, and even more when I enjoy my slide projections.
- With reversal film / slide film can offer a complete unique medium which digital cannot offer at all. These unsurpassed brillant colors, this 3-D like look are simply outstanding. When I project my slides with my Leica and Rollei projectors it is like I've been back in the scene just at the moment when I have pressed the shutter! To get the same quality with digital is impossible: The resolution of digital projectors is crappy and much much lower than what I've got with my slide projectors (I've done direct comparisons). The digital projected images are flat and don't have the three-dimensionalty film delivers. And the color brillance of reversal film is much better, too. And digital projectors are extremely expensive.

 

Well, just "around the corner" there is the the FH in Dortmund and the Folkwang Schule in Essen. Both offer intensive education in their photography studies in classic film photography. I know students who are studying there because of the very good film education there.
In Berlin there is the Lette Verein with excellent education in film photography.
And even the FH in Hanover (organiser of the LUMIX festival for photojournalism) as a mainly digital oriented institution has film education (including darkroom) in the first semesters.

 

Thanks.
Yes, I am .

 

Exactly .

 

Oh yeah, 4x5 transparencies are really great!
And projecting 35mm and medium format slides is absolutely stunning and a league of its own! Cinema at home, but with much better quality!