Is there really a strong interest in film photography?

[Cholentpot]

Gen Alpha kids were born 2010-2024. What kind of gigs are you doing with 12 year olds?

Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. Family shoots. Weddings. School Portraits. Junior Sports. Passports. IDs.

Shocking no?

 

[CMoore]

With the $$prices of film - paper - chemicals going up non-stop, the "upward curve" in "interest in film photography" will level out, then drop.
Eat - or buy film....

.....can hardly afford to eat or buy gasoline.
I sill have quite a bit of film in cold storage.
I did not realize how expensive all that stuff had gotten.
'Kind of staggering.
When will it end

 

[reddesert]

Has any of that doubled in price over the last 10 years?
I'm not concerned about the rising price of film. I am, however, concerned about how expensive paper is.

Lift tickets, plane tickets, and one's monthly home internet bill (in the US) are all candidates for first-world-pursuits close to doubling in price over the last 10 years.

For many of the things I do or would like to do, my limited time or the cost of travel, either or both outweigh the cost of the gear or consumables.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Lift tickets, plane tickets, and one's monthly home internet bill (in the US) are all candidates for first-world-pursuits close to doubling in price over the last 10 years.

For many of the things I do or would like to do, my limited time or the cost of travel, either or both outweigh the cost of the gear or consumables.

Inflation negatively affects the film companies as well as us users. As their prices have to go up to pay for higher material and labor costs to make their products, sales go down as demand reduces. So they shut down production lines and marginal film types like my favorite Velvia 50. Film companies may close or consolidate with others just to stay in business. They're not happy about inflation either as it causes recessions and loss of sales. We all lose.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I was talking with one of the school counsellors who puts kids into electives, and he said quite possibly I'll have a full load is photo next year. That's 7 photo classes. That was unheard of for the last 15 or so years. He also told me for the last few years they could have easily given me a full load, but it would take away kids from other electives. I say bugger that! If they can give the bloody chess teacher a full load of chess... Yes, it's a class here, can you believe it??... then they can give me all photo. It would be a great way to end my career! Kids love the darkroom!
The issue will be finding a teacher who can do darkroom photography. There is one young teacher on the sub list who could possibly do it. I worry because my friend and colleague who retired two years ago, a science teacher, who is all digital take over. He killed the darkroom there. Admin didn't care either... I'm lucky where I am. My principal sees the value of art for students.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Come to NYC for degree in film, photography etc. See the link. Only $9600 a year tuition ( 4800 if you live in NYC). Big advantage is you'll be near NYC's film and photography and advertising markets, a great way to do internships while in school and develop contacts so you can get a job when done.

Academics - LaGuardia Community College

Explore more than 60 majors, certificates and programs at LaGuardia and find the one that’s right for you.

www.laguardia.edu

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Come to NYC for degree in film, photography etc. See the link. Only $9600 a year tuition ( 4800 if you live in NYC). Big advantage is you'll be near NYC's film and photography and advertising markets, a great way to do internships while in school and develop contacts so you can get a job when done.

Academics - LaGuardia Community College

Explore more than 60 majors, certificates and programs at LaGuardia and find the one that’s right for you.

www.laguardia.edu

You can get a two-year AAS degree in Commercial Photography even taking an elective of the view camera.

https://www.laguardia.edu/uploadedfiles/main_site/content/academics/catalog/pdfs/2020-2021-catalog.pdf#page=29

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...I sill have quite a bit of film in cold storage.
I did not realize how expensive all that stuff had gotten...When will it end...

May 17, 2042. Any film you haven't put in cold storage by then will disappear from the market. Note the date. You heard it here first.

 

[Terryro]

Sal
I've been shooting film since the middle 60's and will always be shooting film. "Dance with the one that brung ya". I've got a freezer full of outdated and current film and paper. Some that expired in the middle 60's that I still print on. I've got old film cameras from the 20's to the 1990's that I still use and a small but functional darkroom. I shoot digital but film is my passion.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

May 17, 2042. Any film you haven't put in cold storage by then will disappear from the market. Note the date. You heard it here first.

Sal
I've been shooting film since the middle 60's and will always be shooting film. "Dance with the one that brung ya". I've got a freezer full of outdated and current film and paper. Some that expired in the middle 60's that I still print on. I've got old film cameras from the 20's to the 1990's that I still use and a small but functional darkroom. I shoot digital but film is my passion.

First, your comment is completely consistent with my "prediction." Just keep your freezer stocked with all you'll need till you die.

Second, despite searching, I couldn't find a "tongue-in-cheek" emoticon. No one knows if or when commercial film production will end.

 

[Terryro]

Sal,
Let's hope that film never ends and the interest in it stays strong to support it.

 

[CMoore]

May 17, 2042. Any film you haven't put in cold storage by then will disappear from the market. Note the date. You heard it here first.

Sal
I've been shooting film since the middle 60's and will always be shooting film. "Dance with the one that brung ya". I've got a freezer full of outdated and current film and paper. Some that expired in the middle 60's that I still print on. I've got old film cameras from the 20's to the 1990's that I still use and a small but functional darkroom. I shoot digital but film is my passion.

God Knows what is coming.
Political polls, economic forecasts, what is "now" in fashion and art.............. the predictions are often wrong.
Just keep doing what it is you enjoy and adapt as needed.

 

[Huss]

God Knows what is coming.
Political polls, economic forecasts, what is "now" in fashion and art.............. the predictions are often wrong.
Just keep doing what it is you enjoy and adapt as needed.

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

 

[Sirius Glass]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

Or the sky falling?

 

[Moose22]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

Just keep your film in one of those airport x-ray bags to keep it from fogging before you put it in the camera, then develop normally.

Just keep doing what it is you enjoy and adapt as needed.

That's everything, not just photography. I'm a fat, single, middle aged white guy. It is ALL downhill from here. So why not enjoy the ride?

 

[Pieter12]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

No adjustment needed. It won't matter anymore.

 

[reddesert]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

If you use very sensitive detectors [*] then already-existing contaminating radiation from atmospheric nuclear tests has been a problem for a while, resulting in a market (and black market) for pre-1945 low-background steel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
This is an issue for radiation detectors and particle physics experiments, not for pictorial use. Nevertheless, there's an opportunity for some clever person to make a Youtube video about how prewar steel developing tanks are much better than postwar steel tanks.


[*] such detectors are usually not film now, but you never know.

 

[Pieter12]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

Of course, if you're shooting X-Ray film, you may just have to toss it out.

 

[VinceInMT]

I was talking with one of the school counsellors who puts kids into electives, and he said quite possibly I'll have a full load is photo next year. That's 7 photo classes. That was unheard of for the last 15 or so years. He also told me for the last few years they could have easily given me a full load, but it would take away kids from other electives. I say bugger that! If they can give the bloody chess teacher a full load of chess... Yes, it's a class here, can you believe it??... then they can give me all photo. It would be a great way to end my career! Kids love the darkroom!
The issue will be finding a teacher who can do darkroom photography. There is one young teacher on the sub list who could possibly do it. I worry because my friend and colleague who retired two years ago, a science teacher, who is all digital take over. He killed the darkroom there. Admin didn't care either... I'm lucky where I am. My principal sees the value of art for students.

The high school I retired from 10 years ago still has a strong film program. Back in the mid-90s when the previous photo teacher retired, I was offered the classes since it was in my department (Technology and Industrial Arts) but I let it go to the art department because I had just started teaching computer programming and that had taken off like a rocket. Between that and my drafting classes I had plenty to do and even gave up my prep period to teach another section of programming. I did do some photography in an Intro to Tech class where we make cameras and prints using blueprint paper and the ammonia developer machine I had for drafting.

 

[Pieter12]

I was talking with one of the school counsellors who puts kids into electives, and he said quite possibly I'll have a full load is photo next year. That's 7 photo classes. That was unheard of for the last 15 or so years. He also told me for the last few years they could have easily given me a full load, but it would take away kids from other electives. I say bugger that! If they can give the bloody chess teacher a full load of chess... Yes, it's a class here, can you believe it??... then they can give me all photo. It would be a great way to end my career! Kids love the darkroom!
The issue will be finding a teacher who can do darkroom photography. There is one young teacher on the sub list who could possibly do it. I worry because my friend and colleague who retired two years ago, a science teacher, who is all digital take over. He killed the darkroom there. Admin didn't care either... I'm lucky where I am. My principal sees the value of art for students.

And none of your former darkroom students are available to teach the class? You would think with the hordes of people you are describing, there would be one or two who might have made it through college by now and could teach.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

And none of your former darkroom students are available to teach the class? You would think with the hordes of people you are describing, there would be one or two who might have made it through college by now and could teach.

I only took over the photo program 4 years ago. They would have to be degreed with proper qualifications to teach. That takes five years. I'll be retired by then

 

[Sal Santamaura]

How much should I alter my dev times to account for radioactive fallout?

There are a couple of thousand sheets of 5x7 320TXP and a hundred sheets of 8x10 320TXP in our freezer compartment. When Fukushima melted down in 2011, Ron Mowery posted here about Kodak's experience with radioactive dust from bomb tests crossing the country to Rochester and spoiling a lot of film.

After reading that, I started damp-wiping the top of our refrigerator-freezer once a week. It's long past when any concern about nuclear fogging is justified, but I've kept up the practice as a part of regular housekeeping. It's surprising how much junk settles out of our air. Or, for those who track the local AQI, not.

 

[Terryro]

Well not sure on how much to compensate for radioactive fallout. Wait a few weeks and I'm sure there'll be an app for it. that's the great thing about film. Each image is unique and there's not an app for it so everyone can make some just like it. It's up to the individual photo artist and the statement they want to make with the image. When I make "Lith" prints each is a unique print even thought I try and duplicate one in the darkroom.

 

[MattKing]

Our regular gasoline around here is $2.40 CDN a litre, and projected to go up to $2.50 CDN a litre within the week.
"Refinery Capacity" on the west coast of the US and Canada is being blamed.

Second, despite searching, I couldn't find a "tongue-in-cheek" emoticon.

Type "wh" in the emoticon search box and you should see a whistling emoticon like this:

 

[Huss]

Our regular gasoline around here is $2.40 CDN a litre, and projected to go up to $2.50 CDN a litre within the week.
"Refinery Capacity" on the west coast of the US and Canada is being blamed.


Type "wh" in the emoticon search box and you should see a whistling emoticon like this:

Refinery capacity = profiteering as their profits skyrocket everytime there is a refinery “issue”