September 16, 2015
Ok so I know what your thinking especially if your a photographer reading this… Well rest assured it’s not the typical blog about the two mediums. So sit back grab a cup of Joe and hear me out 🙂 .
I guess my inspiration behind the post is that I’ve read some articles lately about them both together. It seems like the blogs I’ve read are hard core for either film or digital but never happy with both. I honestly don’t understand why we all can’t get along with each other about it. So I’m dedicating this blog post to all of us that really truly just love it all!
I started out being a digital photographer 5 years ago and to be honest I never thought that I would ever shoot film. It wasn’t until really a couple of years ago that I wanted something different for me personally. My photography business is defiantly a business but with that said I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. And with anything you do you need to be happy. For me I just wasn’t truly head over heals happy. So I decided to learn film.
In some ways film and digital are the same it’s the same concept. They both require a thought process and one you can see instantly and one you can’t. There’s different formats to digital and the same goes for film.
What I LOVE about digital.. You can literally shoot digital anywhere. I mean in a completely crazy dark room with no flash you can rock out a good digital camera with high ISO capabilities (terminology for my camera technical buffs) You can shoot into the sun and it handles so well. Digital is amazing.
Now for the negatives to digital because not everything can be sunshine and rainbows people. One huge negative for me personally with digital is I feel hindered because I can see the image as I’m taking it. I know call me crazy! Honestly I think my photographer friends reading this could agree with this statement because we tend to look at the back of our camera as we are taking pictures. For me I just really hated that!! I just wasn’t in the moment because I got repetitive and all I’ve ever wanted was to feel fresh and inspired. Another negative is highlights (my camera techies are going to understand this) digital just doesn’t retain highlights like film does and for me it’s a big deal.
Now on to film. Don’t worry I will not be bashing digital or film (remember I love them both)
So lets get to the negatives first because I’m a big believer in leaving on a positive note :). One really big ughh moment with film is shooting into the sun its so different with film. I remember my first few rolls thinking man this is going to be AMAZING and well of course you know it wasn’t. You truly have to think about the sun in a different way with film but that’s the beauty of it I think because it requires me to think. Another negative is low light you can’t take film into a dark room expecting it to be fabulous because it’s not going to be but that’s the beauty of loving digital too.
Now on to the positives and I LOVE the positives 🙂 I wouldn’t primarily choose to shoot film over digital if it wasn’t awesome!
First off the skin tones! Oh my I could just cry at how much I love the skin tones (my photographer friends totally know what I’m talking about here). Skin tones on film are AMAZING! Film makes me think about every picture that I take because depending on what type of film I’m using I have 36 or 16 pictures to get it right. Honestly it’s really rewarding to me to be able to shoot a roll of 16 pictures and only have 1 or 2 not usable. So in a since I just feel like learning film has made me more focused and in the moment at every session. I truly feel an overwhelming connection with every moment, every laugh and smile because I take it in for what it’s worth. I actually get to slow down and focus on why I chose photography in the first place. The last and seriously the best thing about film for me is the “Christmas present effect” I truly feel like it’s Christmas every single time I get my film scans back. I remember in a since what I took but it’s so heartfelt to actually see what I created and for me that is why I do what I do and why I choose to love film.
I plan on continuing a series of blogs about film going in-depth into different types of film cameras and film stocks so stay tuned friends!
With love,
Michelle
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