Help: Why do you still shoot film?

Stephanie Brim · Apr 14, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?

I had three bad experiences with digital point and shoots. I was sick of the horrible quality I was getting. It has since been improved, but I've grown to like film so much that I can't quit. I really like it. I like developing film. I like the anticipation while waiting for the negatives to finish developing. I like seeing those images on film. I like seeing those images on film become larger prints.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)

My favorite things to shoot happen to be portraiture and photojournalism with a little bit of everything thrown in for good measure. I shoot what catches my eye at the time, most of the time without thinking. I think this has improved my photography considerably.

Do you do color or B&W?

I started with color and have since gone to mostly B&W because it's easy to develop and print yourself at home. I'm going to start printing soon. I'm also going to look back into perhaps working with color a bit more.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)

35mm, 6x9, 4x5. I'm probably going to add an RB67 sometime in the near future as a hand held portrait camera. Since I started taking photographs, I've shot most formats up to my newly acquired 4x5.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)

Not at the moment, but I plan to look more into Van Dyke and cyanotype once I get good at regular printing.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.

The only digital I own is the camera on my phone, and I can't call what comes out of it 'photography'.

WarEaglemtn · Apr 14, 2008

You can't contact print a pixel. I an do everything using film, from start to finish, even with no electricity available.

zenrhino · Apr 14, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?
Because for a small marginal per-shot cost I can use previously paid for and depreciated equipment that performs at a superior level to the current consumer/prosumer digital technology. Add to it that I just really like real b/w prints on fiber matte paper.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)
I do art photography, mostly portraiture and figure studies of plus-size models.

Do you do color or B&W?
Both, but mostly b/w because I can process it at home.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)
Almost all my serious work is medium format now -- 6x7cm or 6x6cm. I do some 35mm, but it's rarely intentional photography.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)
No, I don't.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.
I do. I shoot a wedding now and then plus I do theatre photojournalism, both of which require digital these days. A caveat on the weddings, for those I do the candids and cermony in digital and the formals all on medium format film.

Iwagoshi · Apr 14, 2008

esanford;

There's nothing I can add to what has already been said except for maybe the 130+ replys to a similar question asked on Flickr: "I like film because...". There's not a lot of pontificating just some pithy one-liners. I read it pre-APUG and got me jazzed to take the next step. Check it out.

Terry

Tim Gray · Apr 14, 2008

Because I like the way it smells.

Really though, I like film. I like the cans it comes in. I like loading the camera. I like finishing a roll. I like cocking the shutter. I like having to wait for my SLR to rewind the film in the middle of a concert. I like seeing clipped off leaders in my bathroom waste basket. I like the way I think when I'm shooting film. I like letting go shooting film and 'wasting' shots. I like grain.

It all ultimately boils down to B&W though. Tri-X, Plus-X, and TMZ are my favorites, but it all looks great. And the Portras are pretty fine films too.

I shoot 35mm exclusively at this point. Not sure if I'll make the move to something else.

removed account4 · Apr 14, 2008

i shoot film still because i think it is a lot of fun.
i enjoy processing and printing the the darkroom
i like the feeling if i want to i can make something from
scratch.

i do documentary and fine art.
( portraits / magazine stuff, architectural documentary for archives ).

a little color, when clients ask for it, or i have it onhand ( for myself),
but mostly black and white.

i use 110 - 11x14.

no alternative process, cyanotype and salt print eventually, just silver for now.

i shoot digital when clients ask for it. sometimes i shoot things for myself
it's still kind of fun making images, no matter the medium.

winger · Apr 14, 2008

Why do you still shoot film? - Because I like the feeling of having created something by my hand. I get that feeling especially in the darkroom. I also like the results much better.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...) - I guess more "fine" art than something else.

Do you do color or B&W? - Mostly B&W.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc) - all of them.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..) - I've done some cyanotypes and want to try other similar processes.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography. I have a point and shoot that I use for snapshots and occasionally to see if a scene will look good in B&W or not.

Kino · Apr 14, 2008

I like film because it is physical -- it is tactile -- it is horse glue and silver -- it is the ultimate combination of the Industrial Revolution and Art -- it lives, it breathes, it can be hurt, it can be very delicate and amazingly tough...

It is a lot like people...

Sorry, I didn't follow the requested format.

Colin Corneau · Apr 14, 2008

I shoot film because I want to have more choice in how I create images.

I want to live in a world where film and tradition still exists. And because I believe there are some things you simply can't do digitally -- either in terms of the final image or the creative journey you take on the way there.

I'm a photojournalist with a small daily (ironically, shooting digital every day) but also pursue my own artistic interests, from 35mm to 4x5 -- all in B&W. Usually in terms of travel, exhibitions or collections, projects, etc.

I'd love to learn enough to move on to alt processes at some future point.

esanford · Apr 14, 2008

Iwagoshi said:
esanford;

There's nothing I can add to what has already been said except for maybe the 130+ replys to a similar question asked on Flickr: "I like film because...". There's not a lot of pontificating just some pithy one-liners. I read it pre-APUG and got me jazzed to take the next step. Check it out.

Terry

Thanks... that site was very helpful my project...

Ed Sanford

fschifano · Apr 14, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?

Mainly because I like it. Working in the darkroom is a lot of fun for me. My day job is in IT, analog photography gets me away from the darned computers.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)

Can't say that I have a specific area that I like best. Grab shots on the street probably describes my style best.

Do you do color or B&W?

Mainly B&W. Once in a great while I'll burn a roll of color film, but it's not nearly as satisfying. I shoot so little color that it doesn't pay to process my own, and having it done commercially takes all the fun out of it

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)

35mm for street shooting. Medium format for portraits. Large (4x5) when I feel masochistic. But I do enjoy those large negatives.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)

No, not at this time. Cyanotypes intrigue me, so that's next.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.

Rarely, and so far only with a borrowed camera. I'm thinking of getting something I can use with off camera strobes so I can more easily analyze lighting setups.

Thanasis · Apr 14, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?
I like the results and the flexibility and I have invested a lot of time and effort in understanding this medium of photography. I enjoy learning about its history and the many different types of analog photgraphy. I like the tactile control of the entire process. I don't like using computers as I spend more than enough time with them at other times.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)
I could not in all honesty call myself a fine art photographer yet. But this is what i strive towards. Within that realm i take portrait photographs, landscape and macro.

Do you do color or B&W?
Both. I used to do a lot more colour and used transparency film for the more serious stuff but since discovering the joys of black and white film development and printing, i have tried to focus more on B&W which gives me greater control of the entire process from selecting film/developer combinations to composition, developing, assessing negatives and then printing and toning.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)
35mm, 6x6

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)
Not at this stage.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.
Not really. I sometimes take snaps of friends and family on my partner's digi point and shoot but thats about it.

MattKing · Apr 15, 2008

esanford said:
Why do you still shoot film?

I enjoy it, have experience with it, and it does for me what I want it to do.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)

In the past I have done some photojournalism, portraiture, weddings and a tiny amount of simple commercial work. Now it is a hobby mostly.

Do you do color or B&W?

I shoot colour (not color), both print and slide, and B&W. I process my own B&W, and still get colour analogue prints from labs when I can.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)

All my cameras are roll film cameras - from 35mm, through 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 and a 616 camera kludged up to use 120 film.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)

None, but would like to see more of others work.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.

I don't shoot digital. I do shoot 35mm sometimes with the express intention of having the negatives scanned in order to post images on the web or share them using email. I own both an older MF negative scanner, and a basic flatbed scanner, and get some use from both.

I wouldn't mind having a simple lower resolution digicamera, if I could find a cheap one that is easy to set manually, and has good close focus capability. I would just be using it though for recording purposes, and maybe as a cheap and dirty "polaroid" substitute.

I appreciate any help that I can get from my colleagues here on APUG...

Thanks,

Ed Sanford

You are very welcome. Hope this helps.

Matt

vet173 · Apr 15, 2008

The goal for the day is to beat the light . Did you do it right? You will NEVER get another chance at the opportunities provided THAT day. Your' all that crap in a mission statement will have to play it's part, including a pinch of luck. Color will impress your intellect, B&W will move your soul. I shoot 8x10 because My ego requires it. Compared to watching the magic of the image come up in the developer, letting you know if you were the victor in the battle for the light, working up an image on a monitor just doesn't give me a hard on.

esanford · Apr 15, 2008

Guys,

I just want to thank each of you who took the time to provide answers to my forum question. This will help me tremendously as I prepare to present this workshop. While I am trying to present this workshop in a fair and balanced manner, my underlying agenda is to evangelize traditional film photography as being a viable medium in a world that is going digital.

Because of the tremendous response I have received. I am now going to ask one more question to help me with this workshop. If you have time, please see my next question: What would you cover? Please don't answer it here. It is under a separate forum topic.

Thanks for your support

Ed Sanford

Simon R Galley · Apr 15, 2008

Dear all,

I may have mentioned this before but the marketing director of HARMAN technology Limited Howard Hopwood, has made several presentations to the photo industry and associated gatherings regarding the loss of our social / photo heritage with the advent of digital cameras.

On APUG we get a lot of people dedicated to using film and Howards point was more in relation to the loss of film from the 'family' photographer. Its not a rant against digital in any way its just a fact of the technology, in times of yore you took a film, typically 1 to 3 per annum in a family and you took it for processing you got back 36 prints, whether you wanted every one or not, therefore in 10 years you perhaps had 1,000 prints of your family / friends / vacations... whatever.

With digital you don't , the amount of images taken is phenominal, the amount printed is minimal, you edit out to a huge extent, you may then store them on an insecure medium or on what will likely become a redundant technology....you have no prints, you have no shoebox under the bed, you have no social record of your family or of the places you visted at the time you visited them.

Of the trillions of images shot on KODAK, FUJI, ILFORD or anyboby else's film in the last 100 years probably 50% of those negatives still exist, can still be printed and are actually valued, who willingly would throw out a print or a negative of their great grandmother, or the shot they took of the jumbo jet they were about to fly on for the first time, this all adds up to an invaluable history in the making for future generations...photographs be they prints or negatives...good or bad, colour or black and white are an invaluable guide to the past and for me no better reason of why I will continue to shoot film in the future...

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Mark Antony · Apr 15, 2008

Simon
You're dead right, the reason I took up film after going completely digital (yes I sold ALL my film cameras) was after I had to scan my father in laws Kodachromes from the 1960-1980 period.
I saw images of my wife from birth to teen years all in little yellow boxes in perfect condition, contrasted to the fact lots of images of my son taken on digicam were lost on unreliable back-up media.
This prompted me to look at my own family history and indeed most my Grandfathers negs from the 1920's and '30s are still perfect.

My grandfather as a teenager with his father and the first radio in the village-taken on an Ensign and Selo film
I now take all my kids pictures on film, never underestimate the box under the bed!
Mark

Fintan · Apr 15, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?
I enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge and the craft and the satisfaction. The end result can be beautiful, take your breath away. The people that have and do inspire me, did or do use film. I have emotion for the medium and can express my emotions through it.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)
Landscape, Portraits, Fine Art

Do you do color or B&W?
95% B&W 5% Color

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)
All

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)
Not yet, only Lith Printing if you consider that alt.process

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.
Yes, only snaps on a point'n'shoot.

Trevor Crone · Apr 15, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?
I enjoy the craft aspect. I can interpret the negative in a multitude of ways, it offers me great flexability. I look at some of my tanned (pyro) negatives and often think how beautiful some of them are and would make an exhibition exhibit in themselves.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)
Fine Art-landscape: coastal-urban.

Do you do color or B&W?
100% B&W

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)
4x5, 6x12cm, 6x9cm, 35mm panoramic.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)
POP. Signed up for a Pt/Pd workshop.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.
Yes, illustrative and astrophotography.

Dave Krueger · Apr 15, 2008

Why do you still shoot film?

I like the craft of film photography from camera to darkroom.

What is your area of photography (e.g. Fine art, photojournalism, etc...)

I do artistic photography strictly for enjoyment.

Do you do color or B&W?

Exclusively B&W.

What type of camera (e.g. 4X5, medium format, 35 etc)

35mm, 6x7cm, 4x5"

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes (e.g. Platinum/PD etc..)

No.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography.

My wife has a digital camera that I sometimes use for snapshots or in the studio in place of polaroid to check lighting ratios.

pentaxuser · Apr 15, 2008

Printed some early 1960s(1963) MF folder shots for my neighbour, taken by her father now deceased in the Isle of Man in a typical holiday of that era. On a shot of a "toastrack"( open tramcar pulled by a horse along the Douglas promenade - they at least still exist) there was an advert. With a lot of enlarging it was just about possible to see who was on the bill at the Gaiety Theatre. It was Ivy Benson and her "all girl band" whom most people, even those old enough to remember her, would have assumed that Ivy disappeared in the 50s. I certainly thought she had by then. Now that's history for the general public as well as nostalgia for my neighbour whose memories of her father and seaside holidays long ago was invoked.

It's maybe just possible that digi shots of great historical significance will survive and be possible to reproduce in another 45 years - just maybe - but ordinary shots which have minor historical significance? I doubt it very very much.

The future generation - not me, I'll be long gone in 45 years - will all be the poorer for it and worse still will not even realise they are the poorer for it.

pentaxuser

eddym · Apr 15, 2008

Simon R Galley said:
Of the trillions of images shot on KODAK, FUJI, ILFORD or anyboby else's film in the last 100 years probably 50% of those negatives still exist, can still be printed and are actually valued, who willingly would throw out a print or a negative of their great grandmother, or the shot they took of the jumbo jet they were about to fly on for the first time, this all adds up to an invaluable history in the making for future generations...photographs be they prints or negatives...good or bad, colour or black and white are an invaluable guide to the past and for me no better reason of why I will continue to shoot film in the future...

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Simon, now you're getting me all choked up... sob! Sniff!

Seriously, I agree with you 100%, and use this same argument when people ask me what kind of digital camera to buy. I tell them to buy a roll of film if they already have a camera, or a disposable if they don't.

eddie gunks · Apr 15, 2008

Kino said:
I like film because it is physical -- it is tactile -- it is horse glue and silver -- it is the ultimate combination of the Industrial Revolution and Art -- it lives, it breathes, it can be hurt, it can be very delicate and amazingly tough...

It is a lot like people...

Sorry, I didn't follow the requested format.

winger said:
Why do you still shoot film? - Because I like the feeling of having created something by my hand. I get that feeling especially in the darkroom. I also like the results much better.

Why do you still shoot film?

what the above people have said so well.

i shoot film cause i like all the aspects of film. loading it, rewinding it, processing it, holding it in my hand up to the light, processing it, and printing it. i like being able to do it with no batteries or electricity. i like the fact that i do not have to see the image just after i shoot it (why do you have to see it right away? the scene is still in front of you most of the time!). i like the anticipation of it. i like seeing the image appear on the paper. i like working in th dark. i hate computers....they are alway broken! i like to hold tangible things! i like to be able to make my own developer, fixer, clearing bath and other alt process light sensitive materials.

What is your area of photography?

i shoot all areas.

Do you do color or B&W?

both

What type of camera?

35mm and everything up to 7x11.

Do you perform any alternative photographic processes?

yes, i love mixing my own alt stuff and coating the papers. Kallitype, VDB, and cyanotype so far. and many more soon i hope.

Do you shoot digital at all? if yes what type of photography?

i shoot a digital P&S. mostly just to upload pics for stuff i have for sale. years ago when i traveled i used one to distract the people. i would have my friend using the digital and showing the people their photos. then i would be in the background shooting all the interesting elements. (but i guess i was not using the camera...i only owned it) in the last two years i have only used a digital camera to quickly upload a snap shot of something to display on the web. it is a 2 MP camera that i am surprised still works!....

eddie

mabman · Apr 15, 2008

Why? - I got into film and am still there for a few reasons:

- I like well-designed mechanical cameras - I have a restored folder, a few other medium-format cameras, some 35mm rangefinders and SLRs, many of which are entirely or mostly mechanical. I'm not opposed to automation, and use some sort of it frequently (meters, aperture-priority), but I like to understand the basics behind a process, which many of these cameras allow (and forces the photographer to slow down, which is another topic entirely). Clearly, older cameras are all going to use film.

- great photographers of the past all used film-based cameras (obviously) - the latest and greatest technology isn't going to make you a better photographer in of itself, so I'm not in any rush to use digital

- the cost of film equipment is quite inexpensive vs. the equivalent digital equipment - a local Nikon rep used the word "mature" to describe film cameras, I think that's accurate - the less a technology changes, the cheaper it gets (generally), not to mention all of the used equipment available

- I like to shoot in a variety of lighting conditions using a variety of subject matter - although "full frame" digitals are becoming more common and behave better, I don't really like the way a lot of low-light/high-ISO shots turn out on most digital camera samples I've seen (I browse Flickr semi-obsessively) - they don't look as good to my eye as higher-ISO film does in the same situations. Also, "full frame" 35mm (equivalent) and digital medium format backs are quite expensive relative to film cameras.

What? - I have 35mm SLRs and rangefinders,and 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 and 6x12 medium format cameras.

Alternative processes? - not as yet, although interested by them.

Shoot digital? - not at present.

Whatadame · Apr 15, 2008

Why do I shoot film? Because I like the delayed gratification. I like the discovering what can be done with a negative that I first ignored. I like the feeling that I'm performing some weird combination of magic, chemistry, and art.

I shoot black and white, 35mm, process and print my own stuff.

My film work tends more toward 'art' than my digital (yes, I shoot digital, too).

I do make a bit of money with my art and with commercial shooting, but (right now at least) this is only a part time thing for me..

Help: Why do you still shoot film?

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