Did me a little interview with the folks at Analog Talk Podcast. Not a day goes by that I don’t laugh a little about the return, or revenge, of analog photography. I think it’s great. Anything that gets people fired up about making pictures is probably a good thing.
Film is a path from A to B. Nothing more, but the subculture of film has taken off and is a huge part of so many brands it’s hard to fathom. This past weekend, I watched a few minutes of a film about a surfer who is now sailing around the world, on a $1.7 million dollar boat, and he is carry an old film camera around. God knows where you process in the middle of the Pacific.
But film has become a lifestyle and that is why it is appealing to brands. Selling the lifestyle of someone cool and cool people use film. For those of us who have been around since dirt roads, this is somewhat funny because from the end of the 1990s to the middle 2010’s film was a dead horse and NOBODY was highlighting the lifestyle. In fact, film was considered a quick way to go out of business. Film was considered “ridiculous” by anyone working professional photography, outside of a few wedding snappers. Industry-wise, there was virtually no talk in regard to film, and when I would show up with my Leica photographers, agents, art buyers, etc. would typically scoff and instantly label me as “hobbyist.” Oh, how things have changed.
So the return has been a source of amusement for me for over a decade. And again, if film is what gets you motivated then by all means. Get some fix, some Rodinal and a few reels. Bingo, you are golden.
Comments 8
Cool, could do with listening to an interview. I wish I hadn’t turned my back on photography in the early 2000s. I put down the Nikon 8008S after years and years of taking crappy photos. I was walking around the planet with a camera stuck to my forehead. I knew even then I wasn’t taking the photos I wanted to take. There must be something hard wired into my DNA about the need to catalog and document, which translates into-
“No Scott, you don’t really need or want a photo of that European church….”
“But it’s there, it needs to be documented for the millionth time so you can stick the negative in a plastic sheet and never look at it again…what if it’s your negative that space refugees fleeing earth use to piece together what life here was like before they bounced a thousand years ago.”
“Good point.” Click.
I was too stupid to stop and think about the photos I wanted to take. The thought was there somewhere in my head. Documentary photos and people. (Not dissing people who take photos of other things…we all have our things.)
Where was I going with this thought? Oh yea – if I hadn’t stopped taking photos, I probably could have cheaply scooped up the two camera system I would love to have now – a Mamiya 6 or 7 and a Leica M whatever.
I agree with what you’ve said before and probably say in this interview – digital, film, it’s all photography. But one of the things I love about film photography is the durability of the machines. I have my grandfather’s Leica IIIa from the 1930s, and hell’s bells, it still takes great photos. For someone who is not handy and can hardly put together an Ikea shelf, that kind of stuff amazes me.
Author
Scott,
The tools were so much more interesting. And yes, they lasted…forever. My two main cameras are fifty years old and work fine. My Fuji two years old, or so, and this morning it wouldn’t focus and the button that switches from viewfinder to rear screen was stuck.
I sometimes enjoy the comments here as much as the posts. And that isn’t meant as a slight against the posts! 🙂
Author
Matt,
All is good. The comment are important.
Hey if you enjoy shooting film…
because you think it’s fun.
do
it.
I never justify or defend my fun.
cuz
it’s
mine
Author
Jim,
Love film. Love poems. Love Tim Tams.
Haha the return of the Tim Tams.
Author
Scott,
Can never have too many.