The Value of Film for Family Photography
The word value brings to mind many ideas which all apply to film photography: sentiment, principle, worth, cost in terms of money, time, and effort. As art historian John Ruskin pointed out, things should be costly, because it proves love and sacrifice went into them.
In other words, love requires sacrifice.
The word value brings to mind many ideas which all apply to film photography: sentiment, principle, worth, cost in terms of money, time, and effort. As art historian John Ruskin pointed out, things should be costly, because it proves love and sacrifice went into them.
In other words, love requires sacrifice.
Film is Poetry...
I think, as my own catalog of childhood family photos (shot beautifully on 35mm) reveals to me, it’s more important to portray the transcendent goodness of the family and to bring to light our shared humanity, than it is to focus on perfection. I am continuously learning to pursue excellence over perfection in my work.
Film photography reminds me of its ubiquity in my childhood and teenage years. People remark with curiosity about my film camera when I am out and about, but I recall the normalcy of film cameras when I was younger. It’s remarkable how the world seems to have so quickly forgotten so wonderful and special.
What is so special about a film photograph? It is light embedded into paper. It is poetry. A digital print, on the other hand, is ink on paper - it is not a photograph in the true sense of the word (photograph means “picture of light”). The negative leaves a tangible footprint upon the physical world, it has matter and substance, just as we do. A digital RAW (digital version of a negative) is a series of 0s and 1s recorded electrically on a digital sensor. The difference is palpable. It is seen in the grain of film compared to the noise of digital. It is felt in the painting-like quality of film compared to the hyperrealism evoked by digital. Film photographs, pregnant with light, have a quality of depth that digital prints can not begin to imitate. There is beauty in the delayed gratification of the film process, as
beautiful and worthy things take time.
There is also a felt difference in archival methods. How many of us have fumbled around in an attempt to pull up a specific picture we have in mind which we took on our phone a couple years ago? Compare this to, how many of us have a treasure box of physical photographs from our youth sitting in our closets, from which we can quickly find the photo we are looking for? Digital photos are stored in digital clouds and all manner of hardware that can and does fail, wiping any trace of photos from existence. Negatives can be securely held in archival sleeves and stored in a solid binder, helpfully organized for posterity’s sake. In today’s increasingly digitized world, analog is anomalous. Digital fatigue is on the rise, and many are yearning for the analog tech of yesteryear. Being the physical incarnations that we are, analog offers concrete solace. And, given that analog negatives and prints can be digitized at a high resolution, you can enjoy the best of both worlds when you embrace the analog process.
Family moments, fleeting and precious, call for the medium which best serves them, and captures the essence of their beauty and soul. This is why I am committed to shooting 100% of my work on film.