I like film, and I love this community. APUG rocks!
This happened to me when I went to apply at Brooks Institute. They have gone all digital. The person I talked to said that film was dead and that she didn't understand why I was using it.
My local camera store is fairly supportive and if they don't have the film I need, I can drive about 18 miles and go to a store that carries mostly film and used equipment.
The camera clubs around here are also supportive. One of the best things about shooting film is the people who have gone digital giving you film and equipment.
Every time I walk around with my Rollei, I get asked about it. I am 19 and most of my friends applaud my use of film. At the local colleges and among the art community film has high regard and people are blown away by my prints, which at the moment are scan and inkjet.I don't have my darkroom fully set up yet.
Kristoffer
last time i was given grief at a photo shop from a sales boy, i told the c*** too f*** off and f*** his mother, i also have the same comment to anyone who wants to take such a a arrogant approach with me whilst im shooting.
if i didnt do so then i would probably kick there f****** faces in with my big size 10's
My local camera club is peculiar in this area.
At 36, I'm by far the youngest member who actually shows up regularly to the monthly meetings. I'd estimate the average age of the group is 15-20 years older, with many ladies and gentleman being in their late 60's and early 70's, making it a de facto seniors group.
Almost all of them have switched over to digital, or never shot film at all.
To my bemusement, I've become the aberration in the group that still shoots film and talks about it without seeming embarrassed. I find this hilarious not only because I'm effectively the kid of the group, but also because I'm by no means an exclusive film shooter. I own some nice digital gear and I use it. Nobody in the group is ever rude or dismissive of the fact I shoot film (least not to my face) but I can tell most are not sure what to make of me.
I never evangelize film, but my presence has had some effect. The group's leader, who currently shoots all-digital, is now considering getting a Mamiya 645 Super like mine to enhance his landscape work.
I wonder if the typical "camera/photo store" is any longer the right place to be selling "analogue" products? My theory is this stuff should be sold in art stores, the places that still sell canvas and oil paints and brushes etc - 170 years after the invention of photography sounded the death knell of painting. Certainly the market for B&W materials is likely confined now to the educational/hobbyist/fine-art segment not the consumer & pro market camera/photo store are mostly serving.I've said this before.
There needs to be some experimentation with other models.
Some combination of central, online suppliers and local, smaller overhead store-fronts could make a real difference.
If expertise could be pooled, and shipping (from online source to store-front) streamlined, I think it could work.
Matt
My local camera club is peculiar in this area.
At 36, I'm by far the youngest member who actually shows up regularly to the monthly meetings. I'd estimate the average age of the group is 15-20 years older, with many ladies and gentleman being in their late 60's and early 70's, making it a de facto seniors group.
Almost all of them have switched over to digital, or never shot film at all.
To my bemusement, I've become the aberration in the group that still shoots film and talks about it without seeming embarrassed. I find this hilarious not only because I'm effectively the kid of the group, but also because I'm by no means an exclusive film shooter. I own some nice digital gear and I use it. Nobody in the group is ever rude or dismissive of the fact I shoot film (least not to my face) but I can tell most are not sure what to make of me.
I never evangelize film, but my presence has had some effect. The group's leader, who currently shoots all-digital, is now considering getting a Mamiya 645 Super like mine to enhance his landscape work.
Good for you! When you start bringing in large prints that you have bleached the high lights and selenium toned, it will pop their eyes out.
Good for you. Showing pride and explaining why film is a medium of choice usually helps. You're really going about it the right way, and I admire you patience.
Some people are so stuck up in their belief that just because they chose something it has to be superior. Empathy and imagination are qualities that are becoming more and more rare.
Good on ya.
- Thomas
I have just seen an advert offering to convert digital to film for printing in your own darkroom.
Actually with their new owners Black's is now Cell Phones.Don't freak out just because of Black's. They don't want your business anyway.
What I get tired of is the "But digital is so much easier than film!" argument, that really gets my goat..who cares how easy something is..if you cannot work hard and suffer a bit for your photographs then your not devoted enough! Why is taking the easier way out the better way?
Gerry
www.gerryyaum.com
www.gerryyaum.blogspot.com
having the ability to get a negative made INEXPENSIVELY from a computer file would be useful at times. I did here of someone in San Diego who wanted something like 20 bucks for that.
What I get tired of is the "But digital is so much easier than film!" argument, that really gets my goat..who cares how easy something is..if you cannot work hard and suffer a bit for your photographs then your not devoted enough! Why is taking the easier way out the better way?
Gerry
People who talk like that should simply be reminded of the actual total cost involved in digital.
There is the enormous hardware cost at the outset -- the bodies (which are obsolete, effectively, within 36 months), the computers and the software to run it all. This is measured in tens of thousands of dollars, if you're working at a professional level.
Then there is the ongoing costs, in both money and time. This is things like printing your images and working them in PS. And let's not forget to archive, and make multiple backups.
Did I mention all your methods will be obsolete in about 5 years? That means you get to do it all over again...and you can guess how many files that is with the 'spray and pray' approach inherent to digital.
Digital has its place, and film most assuredly has its place also. They're different places, but I don't hear people saying Paris is obsolete and horrible just because it's not New York.
To those who are fighting with stores that couldn't care less about you...why?
There are loads of places here in Canada alone that have the stock, expertise and desire to help you. SUPPORT THEM!
And let's not forget the great sponsors who support this site, either. Support them, too! You have tons of options, I can't imagine why you'd bang your head against a wall when you don't have to.
I've said this before.
There needs to be some experimentation with other models.
Matt
Went to a major discount chain the other day. Had them blow up a 35mm negative. While talking to the young man who waited on me, the subject of digital vs. film came up. I mentioned that I usually prefer to shoot medium format. I swear, he looked at me strangely and asked what is medium format! I said oh, that is 120 film and said that he had never heard of it. Unreal.
Maybe not where you are but I teach B&W darkroom evening classes here in Ottawa, currently twice a week to fully registered classes. That is at a school were the full time students also start in the darkroom and many of them stay with that alongside digital processes (Dead Link Removed)....the local school requires there IB students to do B&W film the first year. something you don't even see in most photo schools anymore.
Some of my fondest memories are of pixelographers trying to find out what (inkjet) printer and inks I used to produce my silver exhibition prints. They were clearly baffled and desperate but it did not even occur to them that they may not have been produced courtesy of Epson and a custom profile.....Oh, they had no interest in the prints themselves. The technical issues consumed them!
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