My package arrived! Developers, stop baths, fixers…. film and developing accessories.

“Film? Is this guy living in the past?” is probably  what you’re thinking. The thing is, with the digital imaging age in full swing, I feel a little crazy myself for dropping cash getting back into an obsolete technology.

So why am I embracing film when I can create a picture that looks just like what I’m trying to achieve, upload it and modify it in Photoshop in a matter of minutes?

Because of the creation process. I get the impression that we’re going to loose a lot of the history that made photography what it was. We’ve lost a lot of magic with the onset of digital images. Now with some software and a printer you essentially have your own studio, versus the camera, film, chemicals and entire darkroom. This isn’t the way that George Eastman envisioned.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about digital for speed and efficiency. I can’t imagine taking product shots and going to develop and print them. But as a hobby, sometimes it’s needed to disconnect yourself totally from worshiping your computer and mouse. Take the unbattery-powered fully mechanical film camera and capture life. It’s time to go back to your “roots”.

Plus there’s a magic that happens in the darkroom. Physically going to a place to see what you’ve capured adds investment to your work. I often think of how much photography is lost from being instantaneously deleted because “My smile doesn’t look exactly perfect.”

Keeping that spontaneity and imperfection in your subject keeps photography unique and an art form. It causes you to look at the world how it really is.