I just finished a year+ project on film using a totally inept camera and at the end of it all the doubts came that I had needlessly wasted time and money on such an endevor.... and for what? For a difference that most people in the end can't actually see or understand... Reading this rekindled some confidence in my impulses and alleviate some of those doubts! Thank you.
I'm scanning film right now while reading and enjoying my time navigating through Substack. As I read, I share my thoughts on what I've just absorbed, and I've come to find a kind of nightly therapy in this routine. Though I have a long tenure in photography—having taught classes in Rio de Janeiro 20 years ago—I am completely new to film.
The process of slowing down has deepened my engagement with photography, not just in practice but also within the photography community. Reading others' thoughts, seeing their work, and exploring their writings on photography have all become part of this experience.
When I'm not browsing Substack while scanning (each scan takes about three minutes), I’m watching YouTube videos on photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, James Nachtwey, Annie Leibovitz, Evandro Teixeira, Thales Trigo, etc, etc. It feels like the film ritual allows me to dedicate more time and attention to studying the culture of photography, immersing myself in documentaries and discussions.
This entire process is part of the "slow down" mindset, and I can clearly see how it's making me more mature as a photographer!
I totally see what you're saying. On top of that I now develop and scan all my film at home, adding a whole host of issues and problems that can arise. I look at some of my first scans and can see a huge amount of progress to where I am now. The errors are frustrating, which makes the moments where all the steps came together to make something awesome is all the more rewarding.
i'm so gratified reading this as journey back into photography myself! i just went through the emotional roller coaster of feeling devastated that things were unusable to gratitude that I would never had anything like it if I hadn't picked up a 35mm camera again. i'm glad to know im not alone with that feeling.
Wow, you really nailed it and clearly I’m not the only one who thinks that. I don’t think I could have captured this even half as well as you did so thanks for putting this out there, reading it helped me make sense of some of the thoughts I’ve been having while getting into shooting film myself.
I resonate with your words. There is so much room for both mediums. And there is such an element of vulnerability to a process where results are not in real time, when dealing with vintage equipment and film stocks as much as you do it’s almost inevitable that the will be moments where the unexpected comes to delight us. It is only by stepping back and sitting with these images that we can begin to see the beauty in the “failure”, it’s nearly always there if we close closely enough.
There’s something about the imperfections, the waiting, and the unpredictability that makes the process so much more meaningful - I am a recent initiate into Film Photography after years of Digital. Digital is great for precision, but film feels like a collaboration... you, the camera, and the elements all working together, sometimes in unexpected ways. Totally relate to the idea of film being an emotional experience rather than just a technical choice! I recently posted about my experience with my first film camera - https://sandeepdhillon.substack.com/p/my-first-film-camera-the-leica-cl
Very true. And in relation to rationality. It's a fun fact that we (as humans) often think ourselves as rational beings. But if that were true, the health care system could publish a guide to being healthy and then every guidelines would be followed.
But as you say about yourself - we do a lot of unrational stuff all the time. And that's probably mostly a good thing because the opposite sounds really boring, right?
One photographer once told me: Good photography hurts, it hurts the photographer… in other words, art needs to be cumbersome in order to be good
Needed to hear that today, it helps make the struggle make some sense. Thanks ❤️
Really beautifully said, thank you for sharing
I miss the thrill of getting film developed.
Really enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing your thoughts !
I just finished a year+ project on film using a totally inept camera and at the end of it all the doubts came that I had needlessly wasted time and money on such an endevor.... and for what? For a difference that most people in the end can't actually see or understand... Reading this rekindled some confidence in my impulses and alleviate some of those doubts! Thank you.
A very enjoyable read. As someone that shoots a lot of black and white film alongside digital, this resonates a lot.
Enjoyed this read, I completely agree with your point about both film and digital have to exist to make either of the special in there own way.
I'm scanning film right now while reading and enjoying my time navigating through Substack. As I read, I share my thoughts on what I've just absorbed, and I've come to find a kind of nightly therapy in this routine. Though I have a long tenure in photography—having taught classes in Rio de Janeiro 20 years ago—I am completely new to film.
The process of slowing down has deepened my engagement with photography, not just in practice but also within the photography community. Reading others' thoughts, seeing their work, and exploring their writings on photography have all become part of this experience.
When I'm not browsing Substack while scanning (each scan takes about three minutes), I’m watching YouTube videos on photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, James Nachtwey, Annie Leibovitz, Evandro Teixeira, Thales Trigo, etc, etc. It feels like the film ritual allows me to dedicate more time and attention to studying the culture of photography, immersing myself in documentaries and discussions.
This entire process is part of the "slow down" mindset, and I can clearly see how it's making me more mature as a photographer!
I totally see what you're saying. On top of that I now develop and scan all my film at home, adding a whole host of issues and problems that can arise. I look at some of my first scans and can see a huge amount of progress to where I am now. The errors are frustrating, which makes the moments where all the steps came together to make something awesome is all the more rewarding.
i'm so gratified reading this as journey back into photography myself! i just went through the emotional roller coaster of feeling devastated that things were unusable to gratitude that I would never had anything like it if I hadn't picked up a 35mm camera again. i'm glad to know im not alone with that feeling.
Wow, you really nailed it and clearly I’m not the only one who thinks that. I don’t think I could have captured this even half as well as you did so thanks for putting this out there, reading it helped me make sense of some of the thoughts I’ve been having while getting into shooting film myself.
wow wow wow.. beautifully said. thank you for sharing <3
I resonate with your words. There is so much room for both mediums. And there is such an element of vulnerability to a process where results are not in real time, when dealing with vintage equipment and film stocks as much as you do it’s almost inevitable that the will be moments where the unexpected comes to delight us. It is only by stepping back and sitting with these images that we can begin to see the beauty in the “failure”, it’s nearly always there if we close closely enough.
The vulnerability we expose ourselves to by shooting film… I love this.
There’s something about the imperfections, the waiting, and the unpredictability that makes the process so much more meaningful - I am a recent initiate into Film Photography after years of Digital. Digital is great for precision, but film feels like a collaboration... you, the camera, and the elements all working together, sometimes in unexpected ways. Totally relate to the idea of film being an emotional experience rather than just a technical choice! I recently posted about my experience with my first film camera - https://sandeepdhillon.substack.com/p/my-first-film-camera-the-leica-cl
Very true. And in relation to rationality. It's a fun fact that we (as humans) often think ourselves as rational beings. But if that were true, the health care system could publish a guide to being healthy and then every guidelines would be followed.
But as you say about yourself - we do a lot of unrational stuff all the time. And that's probably mostly a good thing because the opposite sounds really boring, right?