Why I Shoot Film

Shot on Fujicolor C200 - 50mm F1.8 1/125 at ISO 200

A big thank you to everyone who has already checked out the website. As mentioned before, I aim to put out a new blog each week (on Fridays) and this week I will discuss why I have started using film for the first time as a digital native shooter.

On the face of it, there only seems to be downsides to shooting film, which is why it has fallen so far out of fashion. Obviously it is more inconvenient, instead of a memory card that could potentially hold thousands of photos you have a roll of film that shoots either 24 or 36 shots before running out (even less if you shoot medium format). You cannot review any of your images like you can with digital and if you mess something up you will not find out until the film has been developed. That leads on to the issue of costs, whilst it can be cheap to buy an old film camera, you are constantly paying for the film (which has become a lot more expensive over the last five years), having it developed and then scanned if you don’t do that yourself.

But to only look at the negatives (I had to get that pun in there somewhere!) would be to miss the point. It is these limitations that make shooting film so special and ultimately useful. There are also disadvantages to shooting digital and chief among them is it encourages a lack of discipline when shooting. Without a cost associated with pushing the shutter, you can just fire away without really thinking about the shot, knowing you can review and just take another one if needed. Something I am certainly guilty of. What this leads to though is spending a lot more time wasted not only in the field but also behind the computer sorting through everything and working your way down to a very low keeper rate.

A familiar sight for older generations. Film stocks come in many different varieties which all have different speeds (ISO) and looks.

It’s not uncommon for a digital photographer to take thousands of photos in a single shoot before whittling it down to just a few hundred, and the reality is that even that number will likely be more than a single client will ever look at or use. This is something I want to avoid as much as possible, ultimately time is money and I do not want to be wasting it sorting through photos that will not make me the latter! The great thing about film is that is really makes you stop and think before you take an image, suddenly you are in a situation without the usual comfort blankets of reviewing and re-shooting. You have to be careful, precise and deliberate to ensure you get a good shot each time and make that roll of film really count.

It is this discipline I want to master through shooting film so I can transfer this to my digital shooting. There is no point taking multiples of (almost) the same image if it will never be used. It is also much more enjoyable to be present in the moment whilst on location, rather than spending the whole day looking at the world through the back of a screen or through a viewfinder. In addition, the less time I am editing and sorting on the computer the more time I can spend on location shooting images.

Another aspect is also the look of film and its grain, it is quite different to the smoother look you get with digital and I do wonder whether this would suit certain situations. Whilst you can create a similar effect in post processing digital, it never will be exactly the same and you would then be spending more time behind the computer again.

My first 35mm film camera - Nikon F100. An expensive camera when released in 1999, this now ranks as one of Nikon’s best bargains for the feature set it offers analogue shooters.

As with most people I have started out with 35mm (with a Nikon F100 so I can use most of my existing glass without issue) but I am also looking at getting a medium format camera which further emphasises discipline as you will only get 10-16 shots per roll, depending on which aspect ratio you decide to use. Well taken photos will be justly rewarded with the much higher image quality.

To summarise, I wanted to make a change. To challenge myself and shoot in a different, more thoughtful way to help break the habit of the undisciplined shooting that you fall into when shooting digital. There will be frustrating times when I miss shots because I have run out of film, or get my negatives back from the lab to find they weren’t correctly exposed, but this is all part of the learning experience. By having the choice between the two I aim to get the best of both worlds, and work towards the goal of taking fewer, but better images rather than many average ones. Quality over quantity.

What are your thoughts on shooting film? Is this something you are considering? Let me know in the comments below.

In next week’s blog I will be discussing my experience with shooting expired film.

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