In an age where technology is essentially at our disposal, film photography may seem useless. We have cameras in our back pockets to take pictures of whatever we like -- selfies, landscapes, or a game of “legs or hot dogs” on the beach. Photography surrounds us every day, but people would much rather have instant results on their iPhone than sit down and work in a dark room.
It seems that we, as a generation, want instant results. We don’t like to sit around and wait for paint to dry, nor take an hour to develop a reel of film that may not even develop correctly. Film photography is a beautiful process, and in recent years seems to be a dying medium, but I’m hoping there is a resurgence of photography on the brink.
Film photography is an art form where you have to sit down with your art and work with it hands on. Sometimes you have to be willing to get some shirts ruined with chemicals for the perfect photograph. You have to surround yourself by darkness, allowing your senses to awaken as you glide the film on the reel. You become more aware of your surroundings, tiny sounds are heightened, and you feel, mentally and physically, how delicate film truly can be. The process of developing the final image is one of pure excitement. After you’ve made dozens of contact sheets and trial-and-errors, you finally get the “perfect picture.”
Watching your hard work pay off in the end is worth it because the intimate process of film brings the artist closer to their work. Film forces an individual to meditate with their work, to be patient in a way that I have not found through digital photography. Digital photography is great too -- don’t get me wrong, I use it myself -- because it gives you instant results we sometimes needs for digital art or portrait photography. But it seems people think you can replace authenticity with filters. I find the practice and aesthetic of film much more compelling as a medium. Maybe it is because of the intimacy, or it could be that I’m a sucker for anything that feels nostalgic and vintage, but film photography carries a power to it that can never be replaced with any amount of Photoshop or filters.
Our phones have apps that make our pictures look vintage, faded out, or with boosted opacity. But as cool and trendy as my Instagram pictures may be, they are mediocre at best. They're for the community, for my followers, and are meant for likes and not critical commentary. But there are those artists on Instagram to follow that spark debate. Maybe as an artist I’ve grown, or maybe I have conformed to social media in which I only use it to promote my selfies. But it is ultimately up to the user of the account on how to utilize a tool like Instagram. There are those artists who show off their digital work, and there are those that show their film photography. Regardless of what apps can do for your social media, it is up to the artist's and followers' personal aesthetic. But despite how many filters I put on today’s selfie, they are never as alluring as a photography developed by hand from start to finish.
As a photographer and digital artist myself, if I have any advice, it would be to just try film at least once. It’s fun to learn, and you never know, you may find yourself a new hobby. Take a class, or go to your local community darkroom. Just emerge yourself in photography because in a world like today’s we are surrounded by images, and connecting to art lets you understand what is going on culturally in a different way. Dropping the barriers of “I can’t do art, I do science” is a load of B.S. because art is intertwined with science, math, politics, and many other fields in ways unimaginable. Take a photograph and emerge yourself in a culture in which you never thought you would because anyone can be a photographer, and anyone can be an artist; it just takes the ambition and drive.
