Is there really a strong interest in film photography?

warden · Oct 20, 2022

Oldwino said:
Things I’ve learned from this thread today:
1. After the Brownie, it was all downhill from there;
2. Film photography really is teetering in the brink! Apparently, just one guy on the internet, in a chat forum, is going to ruin film photography for everyone.

3. Any thread can be turned into a "what is art" thread by people who enjoy the sport of argument.

faberryman · Oct 20, 2022

Sal Santamaura said:
Comprehensively search PHOTRIO for incidences where the word "art" is mentioned. Many, if not a majority, of them involve discussions of its meaning. You'll find nearly as many "definitions" a posters. Do a general Web search for the same thing, and you'll find even more "definitions."

If you are interested in the meaning of the term “art”, you might want to look beyond Photrio and a general web search.

No, "art" means so many different things to so many people that it truly is meaningless. It does not serve a useful communicative function.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion.

VinceInMT · Oct 20, 2022

Helge said:
The vast majority of the people waxing lyrical about "The Process" has never seen the inside of a darkroom.
For them it entails the grandiose journey of buying film, loading it, snapping away, handing it to some dev-scan place and receiving JPEG files a few days later.
It's making mountains out of molehills….

For me, the more of the process I engage in, the more ownership I feel I have with the final piece.

I recently made some cyanotypes on paper I had made. That was quite satisfying. I suppose mining my own chemicals should be my next step.

Helge · Oct 21, 2022

VinceInMT said:
For me, the more of the process I engage in, the more ownership I feel I have with the final piece.

I recently made some cyanotypes on paper I had made. That was quite satisfying. I suppose mining my own chemicals should be my next step.

Well obviously you are the very rare exception. Personal stories are fine, but they have very little to do with how most people (99 percent probably) use film.

Huss · Oct 21, 2022

Don Heisz said:
I'll assume you live in a cave.

It’s a very nice cave.

Huss · Oct 21, 2022

Helge said:
Well obviously you are the very rare exception. Personal stories are fine, but they have very little to do with how most people (99 percent probably) use film.

translation - I don’t want to hear anything that goes against the narrative I am pushing.

photrio is rapidly becoming sadder and sadder. We should be embracing the creatives, instead it is the complete opposite, full of bah humbugs.

Huss · Oct 21, 2022

Who here actually thinks photrio represents what is happening in the film world?

scoff as much as you want, as that seems to be what many here do, but lomography.com will give you an actual insight into what people w joy in their hearts are doing.

check it out if you dare….

Agulliver · Oct 21, 2022

DREW WILEY said:
Garsh.... here we go again, statistical "proof". ..."data". Well, pollsters are spending millions of bucks at the moment forecasting election outcomes, yet still get it wrong any number of times. Everyone here recognizes that cell phones and web sharing is the predominant mode of popularized snapshot presentation these day. But only a small percent doing otherwise is still a significant number of people cumulatively.

+1

And when I talk, tongue firmly in cheek, about young people with beards...what I am really doing is identifying a group. "Young people interested in film photography". And they're not really interested in being lectured.

Huss said:
Who here actually thinks photrio represents what is happening in the film world?

scoff as much as you want, as that seems to be what many here do, but lomography.com will give you an actual insight into what people w joy in their hearts are doing.

check it out if you dare….

I actually posted a few pics there. Someone gave me the Lomography Konstruktor kit some years ago and I managed to build the camera. I'm not a good engineer at all but I built it and I'm proud of that. 8 years on or so it still works. Still takes reasonably decent photos when the wind blows the right direction.

totally agree that Photrio does not represent what's happening out there, at least from my wanders.

Will be interesting to see what the attitude to film photography is in Arkansas and Missouri, where I am about to head for a week. But as far as I can tell in England and Wales, the resurgence is being driven by young people in a similar manner to the NBC clip.

Helge · Oct 21, 2022

Huss said:
translation - I don’t want to hear anything that goes against the narrative I am pushing.

photrio is rapidly becoming sadder and sadder. We should be embracing the creatives, instead it is the complete opposite, full of bah humbugs.

On the contrary. I’d love to see myself disproved. And for more than one reason.
But I think it’s pretty safe to say that you are the exception. More people than you assume wet print.
But they do so in a spare, minimal way mostly, and they are outnumbered vastly by people “just” scanning.

Personal stories and use cases do count. And they do count in numbers when collected. But as a statistical on a forum mostly consisting of enthusiasts and experts, they don’t tell us much about the film and print market.

Helge · Oct 21, 2022

DREW WILEY said:
Garsh.... here we go again, statistical "proof". ..."data". Well, pollsters are spending millions of bucks at the moment forecasting election outcomes, yet still get it wrong any number of times. Everyone here recognizes that cell phones and web sharing is the predominant mode of popularized snapshot presentation these day. But only a small percent doing otherwise is still a significant number of people cumulatively.

They are trying to forecast a binary outcome. Who will win?
Film is always analog, also when it comes to the size of the market.
There isn’t any magical tipping point or critical mass where film as such will flourish or die.

One of the overarching missions of Photrio members should be to not only get people to shoot film now, but also keep shooting it because they love it and can tell others clearly why they love it.

Helge · Oct 21, 2022

Oldwino said:
Things I’ve learned from this thread today:
1. After the Brownie, it was all downhill from there;
2. Film photography really is teetering in the brink! Apparently, just one guy on the internet, in a chat forum, is going to ruin film photography for everyone.

This is not just one guy. If it was just Pieter I wouldn’t even bother.

Don_ih · Oct 21, 2022

Huss said:
Who here actually thinks photrio represents what is happening in the film world?

I know it doesn't represent what's happening in the actual world, where hardly anyone has a non-ringing camera at all, let alone a film one.

And a lot of members of this forum make prints. Way more than you hear from in these discussions, is my guess. I don't know how much enlarging is encouraged by Lomography (website or movement) - I know their push has always been to share the images online. I think the people here are just as much a part of the film world.

Agulliver · Oct 21, 2022

Nobody is denying that the majority of photos most people across all demographics are taking these days are taken with phones. Heck, even my technophobe mother who is banging on the door of 80 can just about manage to take photos on her smart phone. And sometimes even send them to mine.

But it is surely undeniable that sales of film, which did hit rock bottom in the early part of this century, have recovered significantly and said recovery is sustained. And it appears that this recovery is being driven by younger folk. When I talk to the good people who work at my local camera shop, none of whom is a spring chicken and one of whom is past retirement age, they talk enthusiastically about teenagers and people in their early 20s coming in wanting film cameras and film. The biggest hinderance isn't lack of available info, because they can watch a YouTube instructional video on their hand-telephone gubbins. The issue is lack of colour film on the shelves. Which further means less developing, which they do on the premises with an Agfa dLab.

They and other shop owners as well as Henning, when he's able, all tell us that there's been a sustained growth in film sales and interest in film cameras. It's not a fad. It's clearly something Eeastman Kodak is aware of and are now hiring in significant numbers to cope with. It's clearly got the attention of NBC.

Nope...it's not 1992 again with film costing a dollarpound or two in every single shop. It is a straw man argument worthy only of a troll to claim there's no revival unless those criteria are met. Nobody, not even the optimists, expects that. But there's definitely something in the wind.

Arcadia4 · Oct 21, 2022

Well in the 'digital world' people are writing about film photography which is indicative of current trends

The best film cameras in 2025: recapture the magic of film in the digital age

The best film cameras we've chosen are practical classics that you can still use today

www.digitalcameraworld.com

Best film in 2025: our picks of the best 35mm film, roll film, and sheet film for your camera

Want to know what the best film you can buy in 35mm, medium format, and large format is? Read on!

www.digitalcameraworld.com

Not the best articles, but outside this forum film is a thing amongst some people interested in photography more generally. Instax is fairly mainstream particularly amongst younger women (saw several in use in a recent holiday in croatia).

Film is not mainstream with the general public for everyday pictures (and thats never going to come back given phones and ability to upload to web, the volumes of photos now taken has grown exponentially as being free essentially) so it will be a niche like painting.

Most of the people I've seen using film cameras are in their 20/30s, and are the people to also ask me about them 'thats a cool camera'. Theres a whole generation that grew up with film into the digital transition in middle age that are pro digital and until recently the last 10yrs or so this cohort has dominated the photographic media (with fewer pro film voices). But it seems that amongst the generation after them, those who grew up with digital, some find film photography interesting and that has encouraged renewed media interest as the youth are the big purchasers of 'stuff'.

I would put it down to the fact that digital is so ubiquitous with phone cameras eating the dedicated digital camera market, so overall the 'photography' market is much more diverse and just featuring digital cameras isn't going to fill a magazine /channel any more, hence phones, drones, webcams and yes film.

Cholentpot · Oct 21, 2022

Huss said:
Who here actually thinks photrio represents what is happening in the film world?

scoff as much as you want, as that seems to be what many here do, but lomography.com will give you an actual insight into what people w joy in their hearts are doing.

check it out if you dare….

The lack of posted results on threads just prove that many users on here are full of hot air. The 110 thread is one of the busiest on APUG. I'd wager it's because the people shooting 110 are doing it for the fun of it and really no other reason.

VinceInMT · Oct 21, 2022

Helge said:
Well obviously you are the very rare exception. Personal stories are fine, but they have very little to do with how most people (99 percent probably) use film.

Is there a study that backs up that 99%?

faberryman · Oct 21, 2022

Cholentpot said:
The 110 thread is one of the busiest on APUG. I'd wager it's because the people shooting 110 are doing it for the fun of it and really no other reason.

I heard that a lot of wedding photographers are offering a 110 option.

Don_ih · Oct 21, 2022

VinceInMT said:
Is there a study that backs up that 99%?

How can you conduct a study on a virtually non-existent group that's spread meniscus-thin across the globe? All generalizations here are inferred or borderline imaginary. (Including my own.)

Cholentpot · Oct 21, 2022

faberryman said:
I heard that a lot of wedding photographers are offering a 110 option.

110? At a wedding? That's a lot of MagiCubes

faberryman · Oct 21, 2022

Cholentpot said:
110? At a wedding? That's a lot of MagiCubes

No expense is too great for that special day which, if the statistics are correct, will be nothing but a bitter memory in about nine years.

Sal Santamaura · Oct 21, 2022

Huss said:
Who here actually thinks photrio represents what is happening in the film world?...

Not me.

Cholentpot said:
...The 110 thread is one of the busiest on APUG...

There are no active threads on the forum formerly known as APUG, busy or otherwise. This is PHOTRIO. Try to keep up.

Cholentpot · Oct 21, 2022

faberryman said:
No expense is too great for that special day which, if the statistics are correct, will be nothing but a bitter memory in about nine years.

You're just a ray of sunshine ain't ya?

faberryman · Oct 21, 2022

Cholentpot said:
You're just a ray of sunshine ain't ya?

The million dollar wedding doesn't strike me as a good long term investment. On the plus side, more churn for wedding photographers. I mean there are probably three or four times as many weddings now than there used to be taking into consideration the do-overs. It is sort of like if everybody started celebrating their birthday every quarter it would be a bonanza for the birthday cake industry. The only reason we celebrate anything is to keep the card industry afloat. Didn't you get an M6 Reissue Day card yesterday? I didn't get a card but I did stop by and pick up a decorated cake.

Sirius Glass · Oct 21, 2022

MattKing said:
So a pessimist and an optimist walked into a bar.
The bartender asked - "where is your friend?
They answered: "he is out there, trying to find a parking space that he can live with".

A Masochist and a Sadist

Masochist: Beat me! Beat me!
Sadist: Maybe.

Sirius Glass · Oct 21, 2022

warden said:
3. Any thread can be turned into a "what is art" thread by people who enjoy the sport of argument.

A discussion of what is art is just a waste of bandwidth.

Is there really a strong interest in film photography?

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