Whether you shoot film or not, you've probably wondered at some point: "Why does that guy bother with film?"
After agonizing over what to write for my first post, I decided to talk about why I use film.
The Nikon FM2 and a Silver Longing
What first pulled me toward film cameras was a Nikon FM2 a friend used to carry around. Back then point-and-shoot digicams were all the rage, so I loved how a film camera could blur the background, and that silver mechanical body was just so pretty.
And back in my day, cameras weren't things you could casually get your hands on like now. They felt expensive and special, right? So I think a kind of longing for cameras, film cameras especially, just grew on its own.
The D80 That Got Pushed into My Hands in Yongsan
When I first got into photography I actually wanted to start with a Nikon FM2. But when I went to Yongsan to buy a camera, the shop owner said, "Nobody uses film anymore, digital is where it's at," and just put a Nikon D80 in my hands.
Yongsan's electronics market was a scary place back then, so I just went along with it and started out on digital. lol
Back to Film with an F3
Then, about ten years later, I suddenly got curious about color. "What did film colors actually look like?" That curiosity is what got me to bring home a Nikon F3 and start shooting film for real.
Once I started using film, what I loved most wasn't so much the results as the process. The feel of shooting, the touch of the machine, even the wait because you can't see the shot right away.
Waiting as Time Travel
With digital you see the shot the moment you take it, but film isn't like that, right? You have to develop it and scan it before you see anything. Like it or not, real physical time has to pass. So the moment I get my film photos back, it oddly feels like time travel.
I used to do a lot of my own developing and scanning, but honestly these days I think having someone else do it is the easiest and best. lol I live in Australia, where developing and scanning cost a fortune. If I were in Korea, I'd probably drop off rolls every day. lol Still, the process of developing and scanning myself and building each photo one by one is pretty fun too.
The Time Inside an Old Machine
Using old film cameras feels similar. There's the fact that I get to use the same kind of camera Henri Cartier-Bresson used, and when I look at a camera made 50 or 60 years ago, I sometimes think, "They could do this back then?" It's just gear, but it feels like a sense of time comes packed inside it.
Every so often I find film inside an old camera that someone shot and forgot about, and that honestly, no exaggeration, feels like time travel. When you develop it, a day from someone's past is right there.
I Just Like Film
I don't think I use film just to follow a trend. It's the slowness film cameras give you, that analog feel, and the process and the waiting it takes to make a single photo. I think it's the time held inside all of that.
Maybe what I love is film itself, but maybe it's also the easygoing pace of analog and the beauty of slowness that comes with it.
So why do you love film?
