Nearly a year ago I received my Canon ae-1, along with my first roll of film. I began experimenting with it right away which explains some of the blurry/out of focus pictures. From the very first use I was intrigued by the advance leveler and the shutter, that motion and sound was oddly satisfying. But I quickly learned how accustomed to my digital camera I had become, and how much I still needed to learn about using cameras in general. For the most part I used my Digital camera in an already set mode that would basically control most settings for me. With my film camera I had to control everything in order for my images to not only be in focus but exposed correctly.
I quickly learned how satisfying and exciting it was to take an picture and be okay with no knowing turned out. Not knowing was exciting and freeing. It changed the experience because instead of being focused on the outcome I was just happy taking pictures and enjoying the moment (not that you can't do that with digital its just a different experience).
Not too long after I received the camera, I took a film photography class, where I learned to develop my own film, and all about the process and watching it come to life. It is by far one of my favorite classes I have taken through college.
My first experiences with film are ones I won't forget. There were definitely hard times in the dark room and many wasted photo papers, frustration of under and over developed images, a light leak on my camera that was eventually patched up with duct tape. But overall it was really fun and taught me many things about producing an image and beyond that.
I had always taken pictures digitally, dating from an old camera my mom had. I believe it was a Sony cybershot from around 2007. The camera ran on double A batteries and would take about 10 pictures and then need new batteries lol..yeah that was fun. The camera had a screen on the back where you could see your images right away and a delete button to dispose of what you didn't like and try again. There's an instancy that comes from digital, but with that also comes some carelessness that you can just keep taking pictures and then choose which to keep and delete. With film, one usually puts more thought into it and makes sure all the setting are correct to produce a good image. Especially because after a while film and developing can get expensive so you don't have the same leeway to just keep shooting carelessly.
I learned a lot with film that I don't think I would have ever learned with digital photography. The process made me appreciate photography more, from photographers before the digital age, to the time it takes to develop the film. Going into a pitch black room or using one of these pop up boxes to open the film container and getting the film out and onto a rail and then onto the container where the liquids will go to develop it (all without seeing anything and just trusting your hands)... to sitting by the water turning the container and waiting, and then pouring out and rinsing and repeating.. and adding different liquids. Then the drying rack and finally cutting them and placing them in sheets to that they don't get scratched. After that, choosing the ones you want to "print" and then going through that process. the point is, its a long process. takes away the immediacy of digital, and forces you to learn and go through the process. One of the most magical moments was finally seeing the images come to life in the dark room. my first time placing the exposed photo paper into the liquid that would allow the photo to be seen, I did not care if it was in focus it was just pure magic to see the image I had waited so long to see come alive before my eyes.
Film also taught me a lot about the beauty of imperfection. It seems in todays world people are so focused on making everything perfect because with the digital age things became relatively easy to "fix".
Through the process of learning to accept things as they are, means accepting the dust specks, and flaws that appear on film. I feel that there is something beautiful about images with dust and imperfections because they feel free. Rather than spending so much time constructing them and making them "perfect" and trying to get them to resemble digital in the clean sense, they make me feel like I'm looking at something real and tangible. For this reason i'll always love and appreciate film.
Here are some of my early film images, mostly for fun and to experiment.
- K
