There's still hope for analog photography

[Diapositivo]

If it's teen-agers that keep the supply of films alive, then let's hope that teen-agers supply never ends

This might be a passing fad, but it's much needed by the industry at the moment so let's hope it grows. It might help crossing the desert.

The worst might be behind us. For no particular reason I happen to click on videos reporting "backstages" of pin-up girl calendars. I'm typically not less interested in the cameras employed (or lights etc.) than in the models. Lately I've seen two of those videos where the work is conducted with MF film cameras and proofs are made with instant material. It was years I didn't see that. Recent videos I mean, not vintage ones.

Film is coming back.

 

[Josh Harmon]

I am all for the hipster movement. I am 17 years old as well and shoot 80% of my work on film. Film has a quality level and character so different than digital. I am surprised occasionally at the ignorance of some of my class mates (*His* $2000 dSLR takes better photos than my ancient Graflex...)

Anyway, found this funny:
"... an analog camera that uses actual film"
I always hate when I load my camera and realize I had put in fake film

Josh Harmon

 

[Jeff L]

Today I saw a young girl shooting a Spotmatic on the street in Montreal. I smiled to myself.

 

[Sethasaurus]

Whew, thanks Amanda Golden. Thankfully, now I know there's still hope for 'analog photography' haha. /sarcasm off
It is good to know there are a few more people out there shooting film.

But.. Those kids ain't hipsters.

I know a fair number of punk/goth/grunge/metal people as well as some emo/indie/scenester/hipsters but trust me - there's no way to look cool in a cafe if your trust fund or rich parents are backing you up. The 'real' people always seem to have that indefinable something that the poor little rich kids are just never going to get (bless them for trying, though

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Don't know what to make of this encounter. I was at Trader Joes and saw a seinor with a digital Leica around his neck. In his cart was a case of $2 Chuck. I noticed immediately and complemented him on his camera. It was sure purrdy. I wonder if it's just a fashion accessory?

 

[Down Under]

An interesting thread, from seven years ago.

Have we progressed greatly forward in that time? And if yes, by how much?

Or were we just navel-gazing then, and are still doing the same now?

I'm already writing notes to myself about some of these threads. I'll post something shortly.

PS - I did notice many who were posting here in 2011 are still around and posting now, on many of the same issues. So there is hope...

And we do have Kodak 3200 back.

 

[David T T]

Film will IMO continue to be a choice, if a specialty, available forever more. It's resistant to the "perfection" of photography, because perfection at this point is exactly what some (not all) people want to get away from. It's resistant to obscurity, because the more obscure it is the "cooler" and more "different" it makes the photographer.

All of these factors should keep film at a distant second to digital, while paradoxically ensuring it's survival. The more ubiquitous the film look is, the less special it is. The rarer it is, the more special it is. My hope is that by shooting a ridiculously unwieldy camera (RB67) that can also by the way do effing everything if you can put up with it, and using old (Sekor C) lenses, I will have a result and workflow that will appeal to the Philly performers, models, and club kids I want to shoot. They seem to love that I shoot film, yet can switch between color, b&w, and instant film that nearly fills the fp-100c frame at will. At least until my 65 or so packs of instant run out. Other less unwieldy 120 cameras can't do these things. I consistently get a different and attractive result because modern "perfect" (digital) cameras and lenses have converging results. Show me perfect, and I'll show you homogenous.

I am attracted to a niche, and hopefully my collaborators will be as well.

 

[Colin Corneau]

I am all for the hipster movement. I am 17 years old as well and shoot 80% of my work on film. Film has a quality level and character so different than digital. I am surprised occasionally at the ignorance of some of my class mates (*His* $2000 dSLR takes better photos than my ancient Graflex...)

Anyway, found this funny:
"... an analog camera that uses actual film"
I always hate when I load my camera and realize I had put in fake film

Josh Harmon

A 17 year old shooting on a Graphlex?!

I salute you, sir.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Thats funny to read... I'm 17, and I live just north of San Fransisco, but i guess my cameras are all from the 60's and 70's, so it's not my grandparents old camera. I know a few kids who are passionate about film, and quite a few kids who take a photo class and work in the darkroom at school. I have yet to meet another person my own age who has a darkroom and processes their own stuff on their own (not at school). This is a start though. I guess I count as "urban hipster" as i am wearing urban outfitters at the moment...lol

No labels here..just be yourself..and yes you are totally cool!

 

[Peter Schrager]

There's many new darkrooms popping up..thst answers the question

 

[removed account4]

This may sound like b*itching but really bugs me is when these "people" shoot film for 6 months or so in a holga and are immediately some sort of "expert" on all things related to film shooting or processing.

As evidenced by countless blogs and forum posts.

This fad will pass quickly.
I don't think it really boosts film sales all that much because they mostly buy outdated stuff.

I buy a lot of past date stuff myself but probably not for the same reasons.

oh well ..
its not hard to do a little looksie to see what their online footprint shows. maybe they are an expert
after 6months, film photography/processing and printing really isn't that hard

yeah outdated film is a hidden secret since people somehow think sell by dates mean the
film is somehow going to vaporize like the tape recording the impossible mission force would
hear their assignments on.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

There's many new darkrooms popping up..thst answers the question

Where is it?
In our last remaining store dedicated for darkroom it looks like enlargers cemetery. More and more complete and working enlargers, they have no space left.

Analog photography is going to be around as long as people will find it interesting to put emulsion on the plate.
Some hipsters might call it as alternative photography, but it is same as putting emulsion on film base instead of plate.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There's many new darkrooms popping up..thst answers the question

Where? Not in my neighborhood.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Film will IMO continue to be a choice, if a specialty, available forever more. It's resistant to the "perfection" of photography, because perfection at this point is exactly what some (not all) people want to get away from. It's resistant to obscurity, because the more obscure it is the "cooler" and more "different" it makes the photographer.

All of these factors should keep film at a distant second to digital, while paradoxically ensuring it's survival. The more ubiquitous the film look is, the less special it is. The rarer it is, the more special it is. My hope is that by shooting a ridiculously unwieldy camera (RB67) that can also by the way do effing everything if you can put up with it, and using old (Sekor C) lenses, I will have a result and workflow that will appeal to the Philly performers, models, and club kids I want to shoot. They seem to love that I shoot film, yet can switch between color, b&w, and instant film that nearly fills the fp-100c frame at will. At least until my 65 or so packs of instant run out. Other less unwieldy 120 cameras can't do these things. I consistently get a different and attractive result because modern "perfect" (digital) cameras and lenses have converging results. Show me perfect, and I'll show you homogenous.

I am attracted to a niche, and hopefully my collaborators will be as well.

Trade your RB67 in for a Hasselblad and then you too will be able to take photographs with unwieldy equipment.

 

[David T T]

Trade your RB67 in for a Hasselblad and then you too will be able to take photographs with unwieldy equipment.

And spend money I don't have and have shit 56x56 Polaroids for my models/sitters. I think they're amazing cameras, but no thanks. My arms are strong now. ✌

 

[Pioneer]

A bunch of old farts sitting around trying to convince themselves that film is making a comeback.

Sorry to be a wet blanket but this is just boredom during retirement, combined with some discretionary money boys (and girls.)

Baby Boomers are retiring in droves and driving all kinds of comebacks, including film, vinyl and old sixties muscle cars. We are able to buy a bunch of things that we could only drool over when we were raising our own kids. Sure, there are a few young kids involved as well, but most of them don't have the ready cash to spend that those who have and are retiring do. Most of those kids are doing the Lomo thing because it involves being part of a community of people like themselves.

If you don't believe me then go for a walk in your own town with a film camera. Better yet take a trip to a very popular vacation area and do this. Take one picture of everyone you see walking around taking pictures with a film camera. On the next day go out with another roll of film and take a picture of everyone you see taking a picture with a digital camera or cell phone. Write back to this forum and tell us which roll of film filled up faster. I would be willing to bet that unless you start doing a Vivian Maier and taking pictures of yourself in shop windows you won't find anyone else taking pictures with a film camera.

I travel to vacation spots. I go to sports events, I go to balloon festivals and air races. I go to lots of areas where people take pictures. I even go to a photographic conference every year in my area. I can't remember the last time I spotted someone besides myself carrying a film camera. I get lots of people who are interested and ask me questions about my cameras. In every case none of them even believe that film is even made anymore. You would not believe the number of times that I have been told that Kodak went bankrupt and is out of business. No Kodak, no film.

I really do believe that in 20 years, if it takes that long, film will well and truly crash and burn. Those of us who still care by then will be shooting large format because it will be much easier to coat your own sheet film. I do hope that I am wrong. My grandson and myself do go out together once in a while but I think he is just humoring me. His sister is a wonderful photographer and is doing some really amazing things, but she gave back her Rolleiflex a year ago because she knew I would take care of it. She may pick it up again but right now she is just not interested. She is very good with Photoshop and keeps my 13x19 color printer well exercised. The enlarger is only used by me now.

We are also driving up the cost of health care and pharmaceuticals but nobody mistakes that for some type of resurgence in family doctors.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Baby boomers are too busy enjoying the pensions that following generations will never enjoy to bother with film.

That's a nice rant, but ask anyone who works in a camera store that sells film who their customers are...it's much more younger shooters than older boomers. Plenty of big cities (and smaller ones) see film shooters. Are they the majority? Are they in numbers they were in 1976? Nope. But large companies are bringing back film stocks and darkroom are reopening. I guess you missed that part.

Coat your own sheet film?! Good lord....

 

[Colin Corneau]

Where? Not in my neighborhood.

Well, that settles it. One neighbourhood? The party's over.

 

[David T T]

A bunch of old farts sitting around trying to convince themselves that film is making a comeback.

Sorry to be a wet blanket but this is just boredom during retirement, combined with some discretionary money boys (and girls.)

Baby Boomers are retiring in droves and driving all kinds of comebacks, including film, vinyl and old sixties muscle cars. We are able to buy a bunch of things that we could only drool over when we were raising our own kids. Sure, there are a few young kids involved as well, but most of them don't have the ready cash to spend that those who have and are retiring do. Most of those kids are doing the Lomo thing because it involves being part of a community of people like themselves.

If you don't believe me then go for a walk in your own town with a film camera. Better yet take a trip to a very popular vacation area and do this. Take one picture of everyone you see walking around taking pictures with a film camera. On the next day go out with another roll of film and take a picture of everyone you see taking a picture with a digital camera or cell phone. Write back to this forum and tell us which roll of film filled up faster. I would be willing to bet that unless you start doing a Vivian Maier and taking pictures of yourself in shop windows you won't find anyone else taking pictures with a film camera.

I travel to vacation spots. I go to sports events, I go to balloon festivals and air races. I go to lots of areas where people take pictures. I even go to a photographic conference every year in my area. I can't remember the last time I spotted someone besides myself carrying a film camera. I get lots of people who are interested and ask me questions about my cameras. In every case none of them even believe that film is even made anymore. You would not believe the number of times that I have been told that Kodak went bankrupt and is out of business. No Kodak, no film.

I really do believe that in 20 years, if it takes that long, film will well and truly crash and burn. Those of us who still care by then will be shooting large format because it will be much easier to coat your own sheet film. I do hope that I am wrong. My grandson and myself do go out together once in a while but I think he is just humoring me. His sister is a wonderful photographer and is doing some really amazing things, but she gave back her Rolleiflex a year ago because she knew I would take care of it. She may pick it up again but right now she is just not interested. She is very good with Photoshop and keeps my 13x19 color printer well exercised. The enlarger is only used by me now.

We are also driving up the cost of health care and pharmaceuticals but nobody mistakes that for some type of resurgence in family doctors.

In Philly, I see nothing but younger people in the 3 labs I've used recently. I've literally never seen another middle-age person (me) in them. And my main lab between 2012 and 2016 reported doing a substantial percentage of their business developing/scanning/printing film during that period.

Film is here to stay! \o/

 

[bvy]

If you’re still thinking of film as competing with digital, then certainly that it will “crash and burn” will be your conclusion. Young people picking up film today aren’t throwing away their DSLR’s and camera phones. It’s not what they’re using to “take pictures”; it’s what they’re using to practice a craft, make art, be creative. Yes, you can do that with digital too -- it’s just a different medium. As long there’s interest and sufficient demand, someone will find a way to make and sell film. The gloom and doom talk is tiring.

 

[Hawkeye]

While there are certainly a bunch of old folks (me included) into analog photography, I think there is evidence that the participation of younger folks is increasing.

Take a look at what is going on at the Bushwick (Brooklyn, NY) community darkroom. I went through their site and found lots of young folks, no old folks seen at all.

Dead Link Removed

Lots of photos on the Bushwick community darkroom facebook site showing young people at exhibitions, classes, in the darkroom, at equipment swaps, again, no old folks seen.

https://www.facebook.com/BushwickCommunityDarkroom/

I did a search on ebay for "film camera". There were 137,420 auctions completed in the last few months. I suspect younger folks are buying some of those cameras.

 

[MattKing]

Many of us "old farts" either do our own darkroom work at home, or are really efficient when we access the labs we use.
There are two local sources remaining for E6 developing. I tend to use the after hours drop box for the one that does 120 (The Lab in Vancouver). When I go in there, there are mostly young(er) people dropping off and picking up work, and they tend to be there longer than I am, because I know what I want, and what questions I need answered (if any).
One of the last rolls of E6 I had developed was shot using my pinhole camera. The people at the Lab were somewhat surprised at how good the results appeared - I think they see a fair amount of "enthusiastic experimentation" from the younger, pinhole crowd, and some of that experimentation may end up disappointing those involved.

 

[JWMster]

Well... I'm an old fart and fit the baby boomer returning to film in his early dottage in a serious way (while I still have functioning brain cells) and doing all the things I dreamt but didn't as a teenager. So Pioneer nails my profile. But that's among our age group and I'm not sure that's where it's at. High School's still teach film, and it sticks with a few. Brothers Wright? Take this past weekend where I did run into a young family where the dad said, "You can still get film?" Yep, and cameras and all the rest. They aren't cheap, but they are surely cheaper than they used to be. Then again, selling prices for good quality film gear seem to be running stronger, and have moved higher just since I got into this.

On my walk, I ran into another film shooter, and she was shooting a Canon and we had a nice chat. I admired her handy 35mm for its portability and 1st rate glass, and she in return drooled over my MF Rolleiflex 6008. I know a lot of young photographers. But frankly, most of the photographers out walking the part were digital. But overall, camera photographers were vastly outnumbered by iPhones, and I'd venture the future split between digital CAMERA photographers and film camera photographers may surprise many.

For now, most young photographers working in the field that I've met shoot digital exclusively. Film shooters tend to shoot for the fun, love, etc. of the process. That's true for me. And I like the output, too. Digital was never as much fun shooting... though it was fun. And the added steps in film just make my editing easier. But I didn't get into it for film per se, but simply becasue I didn't want to lay out the money for a very fine Leica M Monochrome for B&W after finding Fuji and Sony shooting just not my thing. Don't get me wrong, they are great cameras and I still have my Sony A7RII kit that mounts my Zeiss lenses (Loxia and Contax). Of course, over the years, I've spent well more than what a Leica Monochrome would have run but in smaller, more manageable bites collecting gear for shooting, developing and the rest. Photography isn't a cheap avocation... whether digital or film. But the costs in film only start with film... it's the cost of solving process problems that's forced upgrades or equipment I didn't expect. FWIW, if there's a series of dead-ends, I've probably been there BEFORE finding my current working solution. But at last I think I'm closing in on a prospective stable period with few gear changes. Ya!

 

[Sirius Glass]

As yet another old fart, I have cameras and a darkroom, but other than this website I do not have anyone I can pass on my experience and knowledge.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

In Philly, I see nothing but younger people in the 3 labs I've used recently. I've literally never seen another middle-age person (me) in them. And my main lab between 2012 and 2016 reported doing a substantial percentage of their business developing/scanning/printing film during that period.

Film is here to stay! \o/

A few weeks ago I spotted an 18-20 year old young man with a Yashica TLR, in Lake Placid N. Y. as I rode down Main St. Always encouraging to see.
I never stopped using film, vinyl, mechanical watches, fountain pens, vacuum tubes and other "obsolete" technology, I like durability and repairability.