Loving FILM in today’s digital world




I normally hate to write very much for my blog. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words then why write? I'm a photographer of 10 years, not a writer. I've been interviewed a few times and I know I have this persona of being a nice guy who shoots film. For today though, I'd like to change that just a little. I'm not out to become the Bad Boy of the film world, but let's face it, I love photography and I LOVE film and digital just doesn't do it for me.

Film has such a classic timeless feel I just don't get with digital. When I have tried shooting digitally, I find I spend all my time working to make it look like film. Think about how bizarre that is, when you could just shoot film to start with.

Years ago there was a great BMW commercial. The car shopper goes into three different car dealerships and is told, "It handles just like a BMW! It rides just like a BMW! It holds its value, just like a BMW!" The closing tag line of the ad was, "Why not just buy a BMW?"

Well, it's the same for film. Everyone is spending so much time trying to make digital look like film - so why not just shoot film?

People tell me they save so much money shooting digitally, but how much time are they working on their images? Or even more costly, how many people did they hire who are re-working their files? I'd much rather spend $35,000 a year on my lab bill, know I'm getting consistent quality and have the extra time and money to market myself, travel with only a Holga in hand, teach and simply work to be a better photographer. I'm willing to bet I'll have a lot more fun in the process too!

I'm getting so many inquires from people who look at my work and see it as timeless. They see the quality of my work and while they don't always understand why it looks different, they clearly notice there's something they like that's not the same as all the other albums they've seen. Film makes my work unique in todays digital world.

And although we are living in a digital world, is the Film trend coming back because it is "different"? I don't know you tell me.

I love film!