If there were no film...

[Roger Cole]

The analogy with the CD is very bogus, true. A CD would be compared to playing an analog record. The record is slightly more difficult with cleaning and handling it properly, but nothing the average person couldn't be taught in a minute.

A better analogy would playing the guitar versus playing a synthesizer that has a guitar mode.

 

[zsas]

Suspending disbelief for just a moment, I think I actually would get a new hobby. I spend my day job on a computer and know that photographing on a digi camera leads to storage thoughts (PS/Lighroom, SD cards, printers, etc., etc).; and for me, due to my line of work, would give it up. Like Thomas said, I would get into some other fine art (sculpture, painting, etc.). Working with my hands is quite important to me considering I am on a computer/phone for my profession all day. A lot of the analog process is what I enjoy. If my pics are bad, I just sit down and ponder how to improve them (framing, film, paper, dev, agitation, etc., etc., etc.) or seek advice here. That is the fun to me...

 

[Bill Burk]

I would follow dwross' lead and sign up for one of PE's classes...

Another droll thought to ponder... what if a fire destroyed all your negatives, cameras and darkroom equipment?

Would you pit your hobby money on rebuilding it all from scratch? Or would you go another direction...

Haa, I think my stainless steel sink would survive so that would be my start... And I know a local camera store where I got my Kodak 35 has another one on the shelf...

 

[Bill Burk]

I would become a sculptor.

And I would take pictures of your work by moonlight... On something made of silver...

 

[hdeyong]

You guys are right. Going back and reading the "CD" bit, it's a poor explanation of how I feel about it.
Like many others, one of the reasons I went back to film is having to spend a fair bit of time working with a computer already.
And, to answer the question, (something I never did the first time around), yes, I would quit it as a hobby or art form, and just shoot digital to record certain of life's events.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I almost always play some jazz while printing (usually streaming WWOZ from New Orleans)

Right on!!! One of my favorite stations! I'm from Lafayette, and NOLA is my old stomping grounds. Nothing better than NOLA jazz!!

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Another film vs digital debate... here on APUG!?

Which was NOT the intent of the original question, to be clear.

 

[lancekingphoto]

No, I wouldn't give up photography if film disappeared entirely. I've got one foot planted in the old and the new, and while I most enjoy making photos using film what matters in the end is the result. I have a hard time imagining Ansel Adams turning up his nose at Photoshop.

I've found when I tell people I'm shooting film, they usually don't care. A few will emote some surprise to see a film camera in my hands (like the guy who asked if I was using a film camera last weekend at the local regatta event), but most of the time their eyes glaze over. Non-photographers don't care how I produced a good image. They just like the result or they don't.

 

[moose10101]

I like the analog process, but for me it's the preferred means to an end, not the only acceptable means. I can't paint, draw, sculpt, play an instrument, sing, or dance. My photographs are the way I express myself, and there's no way I'd give it up because I had to use a different set of intermediate steps to get from point A ("seeing") to point B (the end result), neither of which have changed. I appreciate that for some people, those intermediate steps are so important that they'd rather walk away than change, but I can't imagine doing that.

 

[Dinesh]

I have absolutely no belief in "digital photography", neither as an 'art' or as a 'science' propagated by digital fanbois.

You have no idea what you are talking about!

 

[zsas]

Another droll thought to ponder... what if a fire destroyed all your negatives, cameras and darkroom equipment?

Would you pit your hobby money on rebuilding it all from scratch? Or would you go another direction...

Rebuild, lots of pictures out there still to be taken and printed

 

[Bill Burk]

Bill - I've actually thought about this and I worry about it fairly often. Even with insurance money, rebuilding the gear would be a daunting task, and I'm not sure I'd have it in me. Virtually nothing is readily available anymore, if at all in some cases. Nearly everything would be some kind of special order that would take many months. What a nightmare.

Talked to fireman over the weekend, our local prospects getting dim as budget crises transfer support out of town. They can't even enter home until an out-of-town truck arrives. When it was local, they would "break" the rules by saying they thought someone was inside. An out-of-town department won't care.

If it happened, I think we would band together as brothers/sisters and bring together support...

The story about Bruce Davidson being mugged on subway reminded me that theft is only a minor setback. They wouldn't get the negatives or the darkroom...

 

[hdeyong]

Maybe we could make our own direct positive paper and use it in view cameras.

 

[Steve Roberts]

I'd give up photography in the sense of trying (and usually failing!) to produce results with any kind of aesthetic or artistic merit, but would probably stump up for a basic d%l camera for family events, holidays, etc.. However, I have such a huge stock of slides and negs that I could still have a lot of fun with, even if I had to go down the scanning route (though you only mention stopping film production, not paper!)
Steve

 

[tron_]

I wouldn't be able to give up photography. I'm in love with photography, not a particular medium.

 

[moki]

No way I'd give up photography. I'd rather use digital and I'd probably try my luck with "alternative processes" like wet plate and cyanotypes that can be done with basic chemicals at home. But since film won't vanish from one day to the next, I'd rather spend all my savings on enough film and paper to last me a few years. Developer and fixer can easily be made, so that's not a problem, but building my own coating machine and making film is way beyond my engineering skills.