Why Film Photography Is Regaining Its Popularity

By Noah Gardner

Motlow Buzz Reporter

            In a world where photographs are primarily taken digitally, there is a growing popularity amongst photographers for the film formats of the past. But why would anyone in our society of technological advances still return to shoot with  

            In the early 2000s, the world of photography as we knew it changed forever. Though digital cameras were made in the ‘90s, the high quality results came with the 21^st Century. Companies went from processing film to just simply making scans of a digital photo. However, after about 10 years of a crashing market, recent studies have shown that film is regaining its popularity.

Kodak Ektachrome

According to Kodak Alaris, a spinoff of legendary film manufacturer Kodak, sales of Kodak professional film grew more than 5 percent worldwide between 2013 and 2015. Kodak has taken note of the resurgence of the film world and announced that it is rereleasing one of their most popular 35mm films known as Kodak Ektachrome. This stands to show that film is a growing trend amongst amateur and professional photographers.

            What a lot of people don’t understand though is that film takes a bit more time and money. In order to develop film, you must take it somewhere that has the appropriate equipment, like a local camera store such as Durys on Murfreesboro Pike. Also, chain stores like Walmart or Walgreens have photo departments in their stores where they can send your film to be developed.

Photo taken with Kodak Ektachrome

Instead of doing either of these two things, you can do the much more difficult task of developing your own film. To make a long story short, there are a lot of chemicals and tools involved that you have to buy just to get the photos developed. Not to mention a space to set up your own darkroom. This is why I prefer to take my film to a place that will do it for me. I might pay a bit more, but it is worth taking to a professional rather than possibly destroying the film on my own.

            That all being said, a lot of professional photographers defend film photography because it allows them to have complete creative control. While digital photographers have to take hours to edit their photos, film photographers would argue that this is showing a lack of control over their own photos.

 Walter Rothwell, a professional photographer who regularly uses film said, “Necessity is the mother of invention; there is no point staring at the back of a film camera after taking a shot—that time and energy is already going into the next one. Not knowing immediately what has been captured is a creative advantage,”

Photo taken by Walter Rothwell

What he is saying is that film makes the photographer more creative because he or she isn’t sure what the picture looks like immediately after it is taken. Shooting film is a process that makes you appreciate the photo more, wherein digital photos can be much more forgettable due to the incredible volume of a similar image.

            I can understand both sides. I have a digital camera, but I still would prefer to shoot film. To me, film makes photography seems like more of a job, which I like. With digital, you can take hundreds of photos in a matter of seconds and forget about them in an instant. Also, film has a grain quality that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. This whole debate is very comparable to the vinyl versus digital download debate. It is all about what the photographer is planning on doing. There is a time and a place for either digital or film, and that is up to you to decide.

            Ultimately, this is not to say that everyone should immediately discard their digital cameras and switch to film, but rather that film still has a very real and serious place in the world of photography. Alongside digital, film photography can continue to strive and thrive, offering a different approach to taking a picture. The rebirth is just that however. Companies will need to continue to respond to the resurgence of the market and innovate as much as they can to stay safe. Whether they can or not, remains to be seen. For now, though, film is alive and well.  

http://www.kodak.com/us/en/corp/press_center/kodak_brings_back_a_classic_with_ektachrome_film/default.htm - An article about Kodak bringing back Ektachrome.       

                

https://shop.lomography.com/en/films/35mm-film?country=us – The different kind of films that you can buy.

https://www.thespruce.com/film-vs-digital-photography-2688470 -The comparison between digital and film cameras.