January 2022 | Why Film in 2022?
As I write this, in 2022, digital photography has reached incredible heights both in terms of quality and accessibility. So why shoot film? In the last five to seven years film photography has witnessed a renaissance of sorts after having bottomed out given the rise of the digital age. More and more young people who have not grown up around film are discovering analogue media.
Being born in the early 90’s photographs of me as a child are all on film. Consumer film and cameras were in their peak and even though my parents were not professional photographers they, like so many others, had simple but effective automated film cameras that they used to document family vacations and events. But by the time I was in middle school, digital was already well on its way to taking over.
My first camera was a digital point and shoot. I was maybe 13 years old and I probably could have counted the megapixels on a hand or two. My grandfather was interested in digital photography back then and it was a way for us to connect. I remember that I loved to take pictures of nature, more than anything. Unfortunately I cannot find any of those images probably because they are, if anything, on a random flash drive or forgotten memory card someplace.
I grew out of touch with photography and became distracted by High School and everything else in my life; by the time I got to College I had my first smartphone - and iPhone 5. That phone took better quality images than my old point and shoot and more than suited my needs. Today I have an iPhone 11 and I am astounded by the quality and the ease of use. It is said that the ‘best camera is the one you have with you,’ and I tend to always have my phone with me.
In 2016 I rediscovered my love for photography, first with a Sony a6000 digital camera that served me very well while I relearned many aspects of photography. I got a lot of use out of that camera and I think it was exactly what I needed, then. By late 2018 I was ready to make an upgrade; or at least I had convinced myself that I’d outgrown the a6000. I remember researching cameras and reading everything I could, but somehow found myself drawn to the idea of film cameras and film photography instead.
Early 2019 I tried film for the first time, using a Canon Canonet QL17Giii from 1972. It started as a whim, mostly, but I was hooked.
For me there is no debate over whether film or digital is better because they are simply not in competition. As I mentioned, I use my phone to take digital pictures practically every single day it seems. They are different tools; like comparing different kinds of paint for instance - they can all be used to paint a painting and no style is better or worse, but the process and and product are simply different and all have their own pro’s and con’s.
For me I am drawn to several things about film photography. Firstly, I love the old cameras. I mean the ones from the 60’s and 70’s that are heavy, metal, and mechanical. I love the way that they feel in my hands, I love the precision that went into their manufacture, and I love the history attached to them. Personally, I find that the lenses are more interesting and less sterile than modern lenses which to me more suits the images that I seek to create. I love the chemical process of film - from light hitting the emulsion to the developing with chemicals in my bathroom to the scanning or (my favorite) wet printing of the negatives in the darkroom. I walk away from the creation of a single image with what feels like a deeper connection to the subject and a feeling of accomplishment that digital does not lend me.
I find the finite number of images I can take on a given role of film makes me think more critically about the images I choose to create and I find that knowledge I cannot see or preview them on the screen in my hand lessens the videogame-ification of how I interact with the world around me and makes me personally feel more present in a way.
So why film? It isn’t better than digital or vis versa and indeed I still use digital (my phone in particular) to take photographs regularly. But it turns out that the answer is much more simple than it may seem because the truth is: I just really like it and it suits me.