Internet Photography fora & land-based camera clubs

[Bullseye]

I use 35mm colour C41.... they do prints at asda but there just straight off the neg, its unlikely that they will crop the image if needed

and as for anything bigger than a postcard size print.... well I haven't got that long to live lol

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Not in Indiana. We have a VERY nice camera store here in Fort Wayne, a midsize city of 250,000. The store sells a good selection of film, paper and chemicals for us film users while also stocking the latest digital stuff including the high end professional bodies and lenses that the big boxes do not carry. They don't carry any new film cameras, but thats ok, as they have a good used dept and they carry a lot of new lenses that work on film or digital.

There is an even nicer camera store in the relatively small town of Muncie, Indiana (60,000 people) and a very nice one in Indianapolis too. All three stores I have mentioned are doing well and still selling film and chemicals.

That sounds great! Heck I might even move there!

Jeff

 

[fotch]

To be honest with you, I find that the colours are so much more realistic with film than with digital, I use digital also but.. I still find that film is by far the superior medium!

As many of you may know I'm now getting set up with my DR stuff, but I've had people nagging me saying things like... 'why don't you take your negs to the chemist to be printed'

Some people just miss the whole point of printing your own stuff, in my eyes, I can get the image to be what I want it to be rather than leaving it to the whim of someone else!


The way I see it, digital still have a long way to go to beat film! JMO!

Bullseye, you hit a bulls eye. Agree 1000%.

 

[donbga]

Is it me, or are both photography clubs and forums almost completely deaf and blind to analogue image capture? They have completely forgotten it, no-one uses it any more, and whenever the subject is brought up they all laugh and reminisce about the huge inconvenience and give remarks like 'well, now with digital we can do so much more' 'why would I use a darkroom, digital is too easy'.

It's shameful. And to think that I still can't locate a darkroom open for public use within 60 miles of Reading, UK. The camera clubs just say 'yeah, we dismantled it, no-one was using it'.

Meanwhile on the internet, discussions are all about Photoshop, HDR, Topiaz adjust, cloning, and all that digital crap. It just seems that whenever someone posts a photo there they are advised to do all kinds of crap to it in PS so that the resulting image just looks like an artificial load of rubbish. Just about everything looks oversharpened, overcontrasted, oversaturated (any combo of the three). Often when posting a film image you get a comment like 'could use some sharpening' or 'run it through noise reduction' - it's grain!

I think the sad reality is that APUG remains the only community where analog photographers can discuss and share their craft.

(rant mode off)

Why is this post made under Exposure Discussion?

 

[Halford]

My local photographic society has at least 3 or 4 of us (out of a couple of hundred!) predominantly using film. They run both a (digitally) projected images and a print competition every month. I've mostly been sending in film scans for projection up to now, since I haven't had my own printing facilities until this week, however this month I did really well with some fairly grainy 35mm HP5 shots. I think the judge was just pleased to see something which wasn't psychotically abused with oversaturated colour and oversharpening.

It is a bit sad but there are still people out there who love the traditional media. Yesterday I spoke to a pro fine art photographer whose love for film, and for medium format portraiture in particular, was just abundantly clear. They're out there, just harder to find in the digi-throng.

 

[lxdude]

Why is this post made under Exposure Discussion?

Umm, to give the topic more exposure?

 

[Alex1994]

I don't think you've looked very hard cos the ilford site lists 17 within 60 miles of reading the nearest being Kingsclere which appears to have a darkroom for its members use.

Thanks for the plug, I had a very pleasant conversation with the manager of that darkroom, which is still (just) functioning. I and two others will have an darkroom induction session in September.

 

[tlitody]

Thanks for the plug, I had a very pleasant conversation with the manager of that darkroom, which is still (just) functioning. I and two others will have an darkroom induction session in September.

Glad to be of help. Now convince a couple mates to join the club as well and between you all, you may be able to keep it going for a while longer.

And just in case you didn't find it:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/photocommunity/darkroom.asp

 

[Bullseye]

Bullseye, you hit a bulls eye. Agree 1000%.

Thank you

 

[lxdude]

That's right Jeff, cameras have become an electrical and computer accessory, and just as disposable.

That was made clear to me when I was in a Ritz Camera buying up old stock filters and stuff and a man walked in with a Nikon camera with a zoom which had quit focusing. The guy behind the counter checked it on another body and pronounced it dead. The customer asked about repair and the counter guy said wasn't worth it and just get another.

I said why not just focus manually and they both looked at me as if I had three heads.
The customer bought a replacement lens and the counter guy threw the defective lens in the trash.

So much for all the talk about "going green". :rolleyes:

 

[phaedrus]

That's the hobbyists' scene, and really, what do you expect, they are *camera* clubs and *internet* fora. Stick your nose into the art photography scene and things will be different. There you'll find an understanding for traditional media and processes. But no need to dwell on it during, say, a portfolio review.
APUG is a strange mixture of both approaches with a healthy dose of evangelism thrown in.

 

[donbga]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IU1bzZheWk

 

[traveller]

That's the hobbyists' scene, and really, what do you expect, they are *camera* clubs and *internet* fora. Stick your nose into the art photography scene and things will be different. There you'll find an understanding for traditional media and processes. But no need to dwell on it during, say, a portfolio review.
APUG is a strange mixture of both approaches with a healthy dose of evangelism thrown in.

The same here in the southern part of Germany, at least the part near Munich. There are even darkroom classes, overbooked most of the times, and labs, spezialized in BW or C41/E6.

Film is ordered online, some shops are spezialized and can afford, like ADOX, to produce film and paper.

Ok, it is a niche but it is alive and prospering. The only problem is to find some like minded people.

John

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I Consider Long Island, to extend from the beginning of Brooklyn to the very end of Montauk.

You may want to extend the boundaries. The NE Ohio group, organized by John Powers, has had participants from Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Half the regulars are from out of state.

 

[brian d]

Not in Indiana. We have a VERY nice camera store here in Fort Wayne, a midsize city of 250,000. The store sells a good selection of film, paper and chemicals for us film users while also stocking the latest digital stuff including the high end professional bodies and lenses that the big boxes do not carry. They don't carry any new film cameras, but thats ok, as they have a good used dept and they carry a lot of new lenses that work on film or digital.

There is an even nicer camera store in the relatively small town of Muncie, Indiana (60,000 people) and a very nice one in Indianapolis too. All three stores I have mentioned are doing well and still selling film and chemicals.

I'm definatly living in the wrong part of Indiana
Only 2 camera stores within 75 miles or so and the last time I went in one of those I was given a big lecture about how film/darkroom is totaly obsolete and I should "get with the times"

 

[M.A.Longmore]

You may want to extend the boundaries. The NE Ohio group, organized by John Powers, has had participants from Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Half the regulars are from out of state.

Hi Nicholas,

Eventually the boundaries can be extended, but I'm just trying to get
back on the bandwagon after deciding to ditch the DigiSnapper.
Hoping to get ten members to join the Long Island @ Large Format Group.
Once I have a core group of dedicated Long Islanders, we can reach out
and welcome some Mainlanders. But, thanks for the suggestion will
definitely have to think outside of the island.


Ron

From The Long Island Of New York, and the
Long Island @ Large Format Group, right here on APUG

 

[Stephen Prunier]

I was on another board today. Someone posted "how do I get rid of my film gear"! A couple of posters told him to donate it to a high school because "who else would want to use it"? It being a mint Nikon F3HP MD4! Then another told him it can't be worth anything because F5's only go for $250 now because nobody wants them! There were dozen more like that. I had to leave before I started to cry

As for clubs I will be joining a local Art Association (mixed media) in my town. I have two aunt's who are painters and have been members for decades and as long as you create art and are willing to help out you can join

 

[lxdude]

I was on another board today. Someone posted "how do I get rid of my film gear"! A couple of posters told him to donate it to a high school because "who else would want to use it"? It being a mint Nikon F3HP MD4! Then another told him it can't be worth anything because F5's only go for $250 now because nobody wants them! There were dozen more like that. I had to leave before I started to cry

As for clubs I will be joining a local Art Association (mixed media) in my town. I have two aunt's who are painters and have been members for decades and as long as you create art and are willing to help out you can join

I think I need open a high school. No students, but a great photo department!

 

[hoffy]

The thing though, is that if you start searching under the right rocks, you will find enough people interested. At the last camera club meeting that my club had, I struck up a conversation with the nights judge (generally our judges are not from within the club), which inevitably led to talking about film. The judge said that there are plenty out there who still do and use film and if there were groups started, you would be surprised by how many people you may attract.

I have to admit, that he has sowed the seed in my mind and I am seriously thinking of starting a group dedicated to film users and printing.....If I do, I will share my journey here, that's for sure!

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I think I need open a high school. No students, but a great photo department!

I agree!

Jeff

 

[cfclark]

Slightly off topic, but most of those clubs are "camera clubs," as opposed to "photography clubs." I find that kind of interesting.
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I tend to agree, a lot of what passes for the photographic hobby these days on the digital side revolves around the cameras and software more than the actual activity. Not that analog photographers don't have an equipment fetish, but when I saw the Canon 5D Mark II-shaped cake and then the thermos designed to look like the barrel of a Canon DSLR zoom lens, I had to wonder where things had gone off the rails. I also find it a little annoying that any magazine rack "photography" section includes several titles devoted to Photoshop "creativity", when to my mind most of the creativity involved in Photoshop springs from the developers of the application. Digital cameras and image-manipulation software seem to me designed to help the average person manufacture images, and although manufacturing skill is a good thing to have, it's not necessarily the same thing as honing one's craft, something I've struggled with for years and will continue to struggle with for the rest of my life.

Lastly (as I wrap up my rant), I don't see the point of joining a camera club if the camera is doing all the work. My camera can join the club, I'll stay home.

(I need to lurk on those boards where people are asking, "how do I get rid of my film gear?"--they can always give it to me! )

 

[JNaetke]

I have not ventured into many clubs, but I am in a very nice one in Berlin, which is dedicated only to analogue black&white photography.
For newcomers, there are workshops and 6 days a week, you can print, treat and develop your negs up to 4*5"...

The time I've been there, it's been a very nice experience.
Therefore, anyone in Berlin looking for a photo club like that, sent me a note.