Why shoot analogue colour photos?

[gary mulder]

Depends on taste and interest. Some would say it is very replaceable. What makes a picture is the picture, not the post-processing. A great analogue print of a poor/meaningless photograph remains a meaningless photograph.



Beautiful images, but if this fac-simile of pencil drawing/charcoal drawing is what you like here, why bother with the photography at all? Why waste time going out there chasing ... stuff, people, situations, light, textures, animals, compositions etc when you could just randomly snap images of pears on the table and then really 'make' these images in the darkroom? You could even buy negatives of pears off ebay or achieve this effect using any suitable negative taken by someone else. Job done.

In fact, taking this even further, if this visual (pictorial?) effect up here is what you seek, why not drop the photography, the expensive equipment, the hauling of stuff around altogether and aim to achieve this effect on a drawing board with pencils, charcoal, walnut ink and a stack of good quality drawing paper?

Is film photography, for some people, little more than a simulacrum of (or shortcut to) painting or drawing, achieved through the act of darkroom printing?

My motto in life is that you have to go to the toilet at regular times to relieve yourself. It doesn't have much to it, but it does relieve you.

 

[koraks]

@albireo if that was the point you were trying to make, I think it's a rather peculiar point to begin with and in my view not a very effective way to make it.

Do you see now the extreme stupidity and zealotry in this sort of social media discourse?

What zealotry I see doesn't come in the form of criticism or skepticism about film photography, really. The opposite - very much so. None is really warranted as far as I'm concerned. Everyone's entitled to their own way of relieving themselves.

 

[analogwisdom]

And how is using a digital camera so different than using a film one?

digital camera = no windy windy clicky clicky, duh.

 

[albireo]

@albireo if that was the point you were trying to make, I think it's a rather peculiar point to begin with and in my view not a very effective way to make it.

It's very effective. People sometimes understand only via a taste of their own medicine.

People constantly going around writing things like "film was meant to be printed in a darkroom" or "wet printing is more meaningful that scanning" are not making (quoting your post in #448) "normative judgements" for you, or are they? That's fine in that case, right? I'm not seeing you commenting or reacting much when that happens.

Talk about double standards.

 

[koraks]

I'm not sure what you set out to do here, but I doubt we need it or I like to be part of it.

 

[Pieter12]

digital camera = no windy windy clicky clicky, duh.

So you shoot film for the sound effects?

 

[analogwisdom]

So you shoot film for the sound effects?

partially, yes.

the smells are nice too. I enjoy a certain kind of tactility in the things I do. it's also why I collect and listen to vinyl records.

I don't pooh-pooh or yuck anyone's yum for enjoying digital things, whether it's photography or music. I am not interested in it, but I'm happy if someone else is doing something they personally enjoy.

 

[brbo]

So you shoot film for the sound effects?

Definitely beats shooting digital because you like charging batteries...

 

[Pieter12]

partially, yes.

the smells are nice too. I enjoy a certain kind of tactility in the things I do. it's also why I collect and listen to vinyl records.

I don't pooh-pooh or yuck anyone's yum for enjoying digital things, whether it's photography or music. I am not interested in it, but I'm happy if someone else is doing something they personally enjoy.

If any of my cameras have an odor (besides leather maybe), I suspect something is amiss.

Definitely beats shooting digital because you like charging batteries...

Film cameras use rechargeable batteries too.

 

[brbo]

Film cameras use rechargeable batteries too.

Not the trendy ones we use for boasting rights.

 

[DREW WILEY]

We all use digital cameras, because it requires a digit to press a shutter release. That about as far as the terminology gets in my case. I don't know what a-log this, an-other log that has to do with it. I thought those were for campfires and log cabins. I always just called it photography. Why should film usage give that up just because there's a new punk kid on the block?

 

[Pieter12]

Not the trendy ones we use for boasting rights.

Of course.

 

[Agulliver]

I was shooting some Ultramax in a small street in Panormo, Crete this evening as the sun went down and the evening diners came out. One waiter from one of the restaurants on the street approached me to say, "There's a photographer down the street there. But I think your camera is better. Real camera. Film".

Now, that was not why I was shooting on film. And the camera I was using is hardly high end (Praktica BX20S with Sigma 28-200 lens). But I guess, to the waiter (who cannot have been a day over 30) it was a bit special.

I was shooting on film because I already shot the same street at a similar time a couple of days ago on a digital camera. And I will be interested how the two sets of photos look compared to each other.

 

[ChrisGalway]

I was shooting some Ultramax in a small street in Panormo, Crete this evening as the sun went down and the evening diners came out. One waiter from one of the restaurants on the street approached me to say, "There's a photographer down the street there. But I think your camera is better. Real camera. Film".

Now, that was not why I was shooting on film. And the camera I was using is hardly high end (Praktica BX20S with Sigma 28-200 lens). But I guess, to the waiter (who cannot have been a day over 30) it was a bit special.

I was shooting on film because I already shot the same street at a similar time a couple of days ago on a digital camera. And I will be interested how the two sets of photos look compared to each other.

That looks a great place and still a pleasant temperature!

 

[Pioneer]

Color in an Argus with a Cintar triplet is special as I have not yet found a digital Argus C3.

 

[AnselMortensen]

I shoot color film so I have negatives I can throw away!
< sarcasm off>

 

[DREW WILEY]

If a negative has negative value, might as well toss it, and just keep the good ones. But if you've got chromes (slides), they're all positive.

 

[BMbikerider]

I have replied once already to this thread and my thoughts are why print colour from film. Well simply I like doing it. However my colour printing has come to a very sudden and I hope temporary loss with my Nova Processor finally giving up the struggle. The heater tubes had burnt out and spares are no longer available.

It is a bit like having to give up driving because your car has broken down, but hopefully there are still some good used 12x16 3 bath tanks that may be offered for sale. I have turned one down already because the seller was asking stupid money for it but I can wait. Don't even suggest drum processing!!!

 

[gbroadbridge]

However my colour printing has come to a very sudden and I hope temporary loss with my Nova Processor finally giving up the struggle

Maybe time for something new. 4 colour carbon transfers are interesting

 

[DREW WILEY]

There should be plenty of natural mineral pigments in your outback deserts. Crushed fire opal would allow you to expand into a new kind of psychedelic carbon printing.

 

[ezphotolessons]

I wish more people had your attitude. I often see the opposite, not just in photography, but any hobby.

• "If you're serious about photography, you need to learn the Zone system."
• "If you're serious about developing good negatives, shoot only one film for the first 2 years."
• "If you're serious about woodworking, you need to learn how to make dovetail joints."
• "If you're serious about your music, you must practice daily."

I don't understand why anyone even thinks to invent standards that others are supposed to meet with their hobby.

People make stuff up to separate, disregard and "otherize" humans're tribal.
There is some truth to what you posted. It is important to practice anything if you want to get better at it,
unless you a prodigy.
Unfortunately, you forgot the most important thing.

If you are serious about photography, you need to use 1 camera and 1 lens, and make a contact sheet, edit and print.

Im not a musician and still after years of neglect Im still terrible. I still practice photography though, and I have gotten a little better at it, although others might say and I might agree I'm still pretty terrible. I wouldn't worry too much about experts, if you can be an internet sleuth and look at their photography, sometimes people love to have other people do what they are never able to do, because it's hard. it's OK to be a "student" and to "practice".

I think people are in The Zone cause it's something tangible they can talk to their friends (and friends like me who don't care) over coffee, chocolate chip cookees and donuts. Buddies say "I placed this shadow under the leaves in Zone 9 and I did N-2 Development", looking like a deer in the headlights I usually say "I didn't meter" and have another sip of coffee.

Sorry OP I don't see much of a differences between film and digital, I used to think there was a perceived-difference but that was mostly because I didn't practice.

 

[DREW WILEY]

The Zone System has helped many sheet film photographers in particular get off to a right start in terms of exposure and development. But that's all it is, a basic introduction and not an endpoint. If you just sit there, making a religion out of it, you aren't really getting anywhere on your own.

Learning the ZS can be helpful in another manner, in terms of a common-denominator vocabulary in certain situations, like these forums. I don't personally think in "Zones" when I'm out shooting - I left it all that in the rear view mirror quite awhile back, and do things far more intuitively; but Zonie lingo can still be convenient for group discussions about exposure and development strategy.

I would hate to be out on a shoot with someone else, or around a table, and start discussing Zone this or that, however. There's a time for shop talk, and a time to avoid it.

But none of that Zonie stuff is going to help you much when shooting color. Whole different ballgame.

 

[Agulliver]

The zone system is fine for what it was intended for...still works....and is still useful.

But it's not necessary with 35mm or 120 print film, especially if the camera has metering or is a P&S. One can still practise the zone system of course, with any camera that has manual control of shutter and aperture, but it's not the be all and end all of everything.

If you do photography....you are a photographer. You might not be a professional photographer, you might not even be a good photographer, but you're practising photography. I don't think gatekeeping helps. I think we need to embrace the younger folk who do things differently to the way we do. We can teach them and also learn from them. I've learned photography skills in different disciplines from people born from the 1920s to the 1980s. They all had different ways, and they all taught me something.

 

[RezaLoghme]

partially, yes.

the smells are nice too. I enjoy a certain kind of tactility in the things I do. it's also why I collect and listen to vinyl records.

I don't pooh-pooh or yuck anyone's yum for enjoying digital things, whether it's photography or music. I am not interested in it, but I'm happy if someone else is doing something they personally enjoy.

My Hasselblads had a distinct odour, and my Leica R3, too.
Maybe because of age, different materials used etc.
My digital M bodies are neutral.
The M6 almost neutral.

 

[ezphotolessons]

I don't think gatekeeping helps.

Agreed.