I have mentioned before in my posts how much I like digital photography. Digital has an immediate quality to it. You can take a photograph and look on the screen on the back of the camera to instantly see the results. No guessing, no anticipation, you just see the results in a fraction of a second. This aspect of digital can be a great teacher. In fact now I have trouble seeing how I was ever able to get by shooting in tricky lighting and exposure situations with film. I, like so many others, have become dependent on that digital camera screen and the instant feedback. Many people who are new to photography know nothing else except digital and the particular aspects and advantages that it provides. But more and more I see that people who have done only digital photography and have never worked with film, are often lacking in their technical skills. This is especially evident when it comes to metering and exposing properly. Many of my photography students rarely use a handheld light meter, or see the need to use one, or have never really learned to use one. But in that act they are giving up the opportunity to learn how to use a meter properly and to create better images in the camera and therefore not have to rely on Photoshop in post production to ‘fix’ their little inadequacies. I have taught students beginning with film and I have taught students beginning with digital and over an eleven year period I can conclude that those that learned on film had a better mastery of exposure and metering and an overall better craft.
I miss film. I really miss the experience of film and the visceral nature of getting your hands on to your product. To me film seems much like clay to a potter, especially black and white film. I remember in graduate school when I was exposing about 30-40 rolls of medium format black and white film a week, processing it all, making proof sheets, cataloging them, and making prints. It seems like so much work now when I look back, but it was so enjoyable. I really like the fact that I had to handle every roll of film, unloading it in a dark closet onto a roll to be processed, and then mixing up all of the chemicals and going through the development ritual of shaking and waiting, shaking and waiting. Chemicals had to be mixed precisely and then brought to and kept at a certain temperature. The idea was to make the process of developing the same all of the time for consistency. I like the repetition and the challenge of not making an error. I had my process routine down so well that I could print negatives that were created 5 years apart and they would be printed in a similar manner. I also miss those big trays of chemicals in the darkroom and watching your image come up on a piece of beautiful silver paper. Digital just does not provide this level of satisfaction. The hands-on component is absent. Sure you work with a file in the computer, but I never feel as connected to my art, or the process. I never get to touch or to hold a digital file.
I really do miss that film experience all around. I can easily see myself returning to it soon, setting up a darkroom, and having at it with a Leica and a 35mm lens. I am not ready to give up digital, but I would love to add in film again. If you have not had the film experience I highly recommend it to you. If you are really looking to improve your photography technical skills then I recommend that you use color slide film for about 3 or 4 months. This film is very unforgiving when it comes to light, contrast, and exposure. If you can successfully navagate color slide film, then you will have many of the technical skills that I think people should have to be called photographers.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
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