Why I... Still Use Film
Most wedding photographers coming into the industry these days start with digital photography. I learned on film. I started playing with my dad’s old 35mm pentax camera when I was a girl. I took photography in high school when we still had a darkroom set up in the basement. Though at college they were making the transition into digital, I feel really blessed that I still had lots of time in the darkroom and plenty of practice with all different kinds of film cameras. And even my first commercial and wedding photography jobs were still shot on film.
Film is what made me fall in love with photography to begin with. Film is real to me. It’s tangible and solid. If I really love an idea or setup, I like best to shoot on film.
I now shoot both film and digital, each for different reasons and at different times. Digital has lots of obvious benefits. Film is more subtle in its worthy attributes. I like to use old cameras and old film. They aren’t perfect and I can’t control all aspect of the final image. It gives a kind of magic to them. You never know exactly how this will turn out and serendipity is a glorious thing. Though this concept isn’t great for the majority of your wedding day pictures (thus the need for digital), it adds fabulous flair to your gallery of wedding images.
Though my film camera collection has dwindled and my digital collection grown, I still think in manual terms and ideas. All the crazy cool digital gadgets and options are just extra to me. I like to keep it real and basic. It’s about art to me and film still gives me that nostalgic feel of creating life from still moments in time.