Film photography is a bit of love/hate thing. Some people “get it” and they love it, other people really don’t see what the big deal is. And that’s fine! For me, though, I definitely “get it”! Film/analogue photography is where it all started for me, years and years ago. I was always obsessed with waiting for the film to be developed and to get my prints back, the anticipation as a kid was killer…and it hasn’t changed (my photography has got a bit better though..hopefully!)

There is a magic to analogue photography. It’s much more intentional, and every frame needs to be just a little bit more carefully considered than when you’re shooting on digital. The photos have a totally different feel to them, and there’s something about the soft grain, lens flare and slightly softer images that are just magical. They’re perfectly imperfect. Every little mark, blemish and blur adds character and a realness to the image for me. Don’t get me wrong, these “imperfections” don’t take away from the image! They’re not mistakes or even things that you’ll likely notice in the image. They’re just characteristics of film photography that add to the realness and rawness of the captured moment. 

I think film photography has had a resurgence recently because it’s so nostalgic. Many of us grew up with it and it reminds us of those times…maybe I’m just old. And in a world where everything is so immediate, we still have to wait for our rolls of film to be developed. And unlike digital photography which we can look at straight away on the back of our camera, or on our phones, we still have that feeling on anticipation and excitement as we wait for our film to be developed to see what we managed to capture. And that really does feel like magic when you get those photos back.

Right, now that I feel a billion years old, I’ll leave you with these film scans below: