Why you should approach analogue photography?
I am a curious person by nature. During my life, I’ve approached many things, some of these have turned out to be ephemeral interests, while others have become visceral passions. About four years ago another one was added, analogue photography. The moment I dusted off my father’s old Olympus Trip AF Mini, it was like rediscovering a relationship that I thought was lost, rusted by time.
Film photography is part of a past that unites us all, in which capturing scenes indelibly required a long process where it was only possible to admire the results at its end. Nowadays, thanks to digital cameras, which have become increasingly accessible and performing over time, and smartphones, long waits are no longer necessary and there are no longer quantitative constraints (digital photos are stored on large dedicated memory supports, while analogue photos are impressed on rolls with a limited number of exposures) you can take as many shots as you want and immediately see the result.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, let’s take a closer look at the analogue photographic process.
What is analogue photography?
Analogue photography, also known as gelatine silver photography, is a photographic process in which a chemical reaction imprints an image on photosensitive support (film or plates).
Photographic impression was the only method available to photographers for over a century before the invention of digital photography, which uses an electronic sensor to capture images.
Analogue cameras use film rolls or plates on which there is a photosensitive emulsion of gelatin and silver salts (hence the name gelatin silver photography ). Once exposed to light, a latent image gets imprinted on the emulsion, which, once processed through chemical baths, will become our negative (in the case in which it is a negative film) or our slide (in the case in which you shoot with positive film, also known as slide film).
After the film development, it’s possible to print the negative image on a larger medium with an enlarger. An enlarger is an optical tool capable of projecting the developed image on a photosensitive medium, such as photographic paper. The printing process is done in a light-proof environment known as the darkroom.
Silver photography has some peculiar features, that at first glance may seem like disadvantages, that could discourage newbies:
The absence of a preview
It is not possible to have immediate visual feedback, any mistake in the exposure will only be visible once the film has been developed. This problem is partially overcome by the presence of viewfinders (Galilean or pentaprism) mounted on analogue cameras that allow us to compose our image and focus on the subject, but this solution is not comparable to the live view on digital systems.
The limited number of shots
There is a limited number of shots due to the very nature of the medium on which the photographs are chemically imprinted. Generally, it ranges from a minimum of 24 exposures up to a maximum of 36 exposures on 135 format.
The cost
Every time you want to carry out a photo shoot you will have to buy a film roll whose cost will depend on its characteristics, also you have to consider developing and printing costs (scanning if you want to go and digitize your negatives).
But why then choose such a limited and expensive type of photography, considering that all the problems of analogue photography are solved by digital?
DSLRs, mirrorless cameras and smartphones have greatly simplified the photographic process making it much faster and cheaper, thanks to the fact that time-consuming steps, such as developing and printing, are no longer necessary and there are no costs related to the film, together with the limits of possible exposures deriving from it; it is fair to point out that digital photographic devices have made photography somewhat insubstantial. Thanks to the large storage capacities we can take a lot of photographs, most of the time without even thinking about it particularly, all these shots, in the vast majority of cases, end up forgotten in our galleries.
Thanks to the advent of social networks, we tend not to print photos but post them on social platforms. Analogue with its limitations pushes us to have to shoot differently: every photograph has a cost and cannot be cancelled and redone, this leads us to be more conscientious, to think carefully about the composition of the image and to be more aware of the photographic process.
I rediscovered a now-lost ritual in all those forgotten gestures such as loading the film and finally developing it. While shooting film, I felt a greater emotional attachment to the photographs I took, thanks to the craftsmanship of the analogue photographic process, which allowed me to capture moments that will remain indelible both on film and in my memories.
I recommend analogue photography if you want to rediscover a forgotten world, a world made of gestures and rituals, a world where time passes slowly, a world where you can rediscover the intimacy between the photographer and your shots.
