When I was a little girl, I used to google nature photography. I would spend hours looking at impressive photos of exotic birds or large landscapes. I was enamored by the vivid colors and movement of the animals as well as the shot of them. I wanted to take pictures just like that. Years later, I entered high school, photography seemed like an old past-time. It was not until my freshmen year of college that I started loving photography again. I constantly felt alone and reading quotes and taking pictures gave me life. My sophomore year of college I finally took a photography class and bought my own film camera, a Canon AE-1. I learned how to use the camera and how to develop it in the dark room. Side note: I want my very own dark room one day. It took until the very last photo project in the class for me to actually know how to work my camera and take nice pictures, but when I did I felt powerful and creative.

In this digital age, film photography is coming back and I love it. Not everyone has access to technology like smart phones and computers so seeing and sharing family photos and precious memories online is not always good. Technology can also malfunction and all of your precious memories are erased. I’ve always loved looking through photo albums; there’s something about holding a picture. It almost feels like you can find more in the image when you hold it rather than look at it through a screen. There’s a lot that goes into developing film, but it’s the process that I fell in love with. Blasting my favorite music in the dark space was creepy but all of that fear and anxiety disappeared when the image slowly appeared in the developer. It was like magic watching this seemingly ordinary paper come to life. I’m thankful to attend a school that has a dark room and teaches film photography; it’s an art form I will always practice.