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This should not be a battle. Everyone knows how convenient digital has become. But whether or not some decide to use film, should not be an argument. It is a choice for good reasons.

The images in the gallery above, are samples of my some of my personal work with film. I believe they show a few of the many things that film does very well without the aid of Photoshop or that you have to fake with digital. Digital does great things and so does film. I have included pinhole, contact prints on Van Dyke, square format, hand manipulated Polaroid and a shot taken with a Leica on Tri-X. Nothing above has been digitally manipulated. These images would not exist without the analog tools that made them possible. Imaging is about seeing and delivering a true expression of your vision. Photography is a language that uses, has used and will always use many tools.

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I am a digital photographer who also has a history in film. I happen to love film as much as I love digital. I use them for different reasons. Digital is convenient and modern but film gives me some things that digital has yet to fulfill. I love old cameras and I love old processes. I am also excited by digital and have been creating with computers for several decades. I love imaging.

The Holga and Diana are only a few out of many reasons that some people still love to use film. For me, there are many others. I find it interesting that there are huge numbers of young photographers that have grown up on digital who are intent on learning about film. They seem to want to have the full experience that connects them with all of photography.

When I was at Kodak, I tried to look at all the things that film could do that digital could not do without some kind of computer manipulation. I found that film can do things like image on an curved surface. Film can also be used to capture 360˚ panoramas. In fact, I believe that in the future, we will find that digital will be flexible like film. There has been some amazing research in that area for at least ten years. While it may be true that most people are not using film, there are many things to be learned from what film can do. 

There are many fake looks that can be accomplished with digital. You can create the look of a Holga or a Diana. You can make images look old, you can stitch panoramas, add depth of field with focus stacking, turn a color image into a black and white, produce what looks like film grain and create an endless variety of pretentious imagery.

What you can't get with digital is the authenticity that film gives you straight from the camera. No Photoshop, no fakery, no digital manipulation.

Creativity does not come packaged with any camera, digital or film. It doesn’t come with artistic filters or with endless shooting settings. It doesn’t come from a Leica or a Canon 7d. It doesn’t come with HDR or optical stabilization or any of the next amazing things out there.

Creativity comes from being able to see the world, not like everyone else, but by the creative ability to express what we see through our own unique vision. Uniqueness can come from following your own path, making your own decisions and choosing your own tools, being confident in your abilities and having a keen awareness of your subject.  This should not be a battle between film or digital. The majority of people have already turned to digital because of all the reasons given above. There are many reasons that some one might want to play with film.  If pleasure is one or if reaching back into history is another, so be it. Personally, I love all that imaging has to offer. I simply see that digital is one of the tools I can choose for the act of making a photograph. Film is another. There is a whole history of image making tools that have come and gone and in some cases have come back. I will say now, that digital at least as we know it, will be replaced with something even better at some point in the not too far off  future.

Some day, our grandkids are going to ask us what digital was. Judging by the history of imaging, they too will be using a totally new breed of imaging tools to image their world. There will be those who resist and those who follow. Like myself there will be those who use both.

Let those who find artistic pleasure and creative satisfaction enjoy digital or film the way they see fit. Not everyone needs to have the latest and greatest to be creative. There are very talented artists both old and young working with ancient tools making incredible images. Who am I to stifle their efforts?

 If anyone is going to ask the question why, please don’t tell us why not. Listen to why we like what we like.

Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today. - Edward Abbey

 

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"This is the same problem I have with digital photography. The potential is always remarkable. But the medium never settles. Each year there is a better camera to buy and new software to download. The user never has time to become comfortable with the tool. Consequently too much of the work is merely about the technology. The HDR and QTVR fads are good examples. Instead of focusing on the subject, users obsess over RAW conversion, Photoshop plug-ins, and on and on. For good work to develop the technology needs to become as stable and functional as a typewriter." - Alec Soth

 

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"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important. "  - Henri Cartier-Bresson

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"Leica, schmeica. The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to see."  - Ernst Haas

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"I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop." -  Ansel Adams

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And so on...

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Digital V Film...It's a silly argument.

You might want to read my other posts on this subject on Pixiq.com