A Return to Analog Film

Tony Juliano
Nov 3 · 4 min read
“Trolley Car” by the Author, 2014

My photographic experience is deeply rooted in another time.

It was a time when complex emulsions of silver halide mixed with gelatin affixed to a base of acetate or polyester; it was a time when film recorded everything.

The wonders of the world…

“Tetons” by Ansel Adams, 1942

Along with the splendidly mundane…

“Au Bord de la Mame” by Henri Cartier Bresson, 1938

And unspeakable tragedy…

“Migrant Mother” by Dorothea Lange, 1936

I love the “look” of film. . .its grittiness of grain and inky blacks and bright whites. I love the brilliant color profiles, sharpness, and three-dimensional rendering.

There are possibilities with every click of the shutter when you shoot film.

It has the potential to capture the surreal naturally, whilst still portraying an uncommon sense of realism…

“Le Violin D’Ingres” by Man Ray, 1924

At the same time, it’s natural and organic, sometimes rewarding you with the precise vision you had in your mind, other times surprising you by revealing a detail or subtlety you hadn’t anticipated.

Film forces you to slow down and concentrate, and as a result transforms the work of the camera into the tool of an artist rather than simply a device for recording.

The photographer as artist pre-adjusts the camera settings, carefully observes the subjects of his work, steadily waits for the precise moment to click and shoot. . . and later patiently awaits the gradual reveal during development.

I love shooting film because of this process.

Certainly, it’s more demanding up front, insisting that you concentrate on creating the intended image “in camera”, instead of altering it significantly after the fact. But, the reward is the realization of your vision on a physical medium that can stand for all time.

Fortunately, there is a resurgence of photography as an art form as people are recognizing the need to slow down… for authenticity, honesty and truth, in life and in photographs. There is a renewed reverence for quality and creativity. . . an understanding that there is real joy in doing something slowly and with intention.

I love shooting with film, but I’ve been away too long. As the years flowed by, and the “ease” of speed, and quality of digital capture took hold, like many others, I drifted away.

I never minded the “work” of analog capture, nor the time required to develop my own film, but digital archival necessitated scanning the results.

I loathed film scanning as it disrupted my connection to the creative process.

However, the alternative to doing this myself is to turn to a professional lab which is not only time consuming and expensive, the results often come with wildly varying degrees of success, or more often — failure.

A lab technician cannot possibly duplicate the photographer’s intention, vision, or imagination.

On the other hand, “DIY” meant dealing with expensive — and now mostly obsolete — dedicated film scanners or flatbeds that simply cannot deliver quality photos. Sure, B&W film scanning is relatively straight-forward, but still painfully slow in execution. Color, especially C-41 negative film, is even more difficult, and good results are hard to attain.

The tedious and imperfect process of film scanning had nearly ruined my love of film, but now that’s all changed.

Fortunately, advances in the resolution and quality of DSLR and Mirrorless cameras means that the tedium of old-school digitizing can be a thing of the past. With the right setup, one can now quickly digitize any film format, and with stellar results.

Slide film? Easy… Snap a high-resolution photo with the film situated over a suitable light source and add a bit of color correction in post.

Traditional B&W negatives? Not much challenge there, either. It’s easy to invert the negative result into a positive by choosing from a wide variety of photo editing software packages.

Color Negatives? Although C-41 film requires complex color conversion that has traditionally only been possible utilizing industrial film processing equipment in a lab environment, there have been recent developments that successfully address this issue.

Miraculously, even in our digital age, film is — once again — a serious option for photographers who want to hone their craft. It is also an important learning tool for anyone less experienced who wishes to learn the finer points of this art form.

Analog capture will enable any enthusiast to attain a more thorough foundation, and these skills will also improve their results in digital photography.

For me, well… I shoot film because I can — it really is that simple.

It is a lifestyle choice, just like choosing a healthy diet or to exercise regularly. I have the opportunity to shoot the very finest digital has to offer, and I still use digital cameras to take a great many pictures. But I’ve found that I enjoy my work the most when I take the time to think more and react less.

I like to take my time shooting and creating the image in my mind first, then use the camera as a tool to deliver that intention.

For me, that is the true craft of photography, transforming artistic inspiration into reality

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