Why I Shoot Film (And Why That's Important)

When people I meet find out I shoot film, the first question they ask is usually "do they still make that??" Simply put, yes! Film is very much still alive and, believe it or not, a very popular medium!

The most important reason I incorporate film into my work is that it is the archetype of photography as we know it. Recently I was using my film camera and a younger family member asked why my camera didn't show the pictures after I took them. As I began to explain why, I realized he'd never lived in a time where there wasn't a digital camera! Working with film makes me feel like I'm keeping part of history alive. 

Another reason I choose to shoot film is that it makes me work smarter as a photographer. Let's face it, film photography is pricey. For every roll of film, there's only a limited quantity of shots (16 photos for one roll of 120 film). Shooting film forces me to slow my process down drastically, look harder at my compositions and only press my shutter when I'm sure what I see in my viewfinder is the perfect shot. Shooting film makes me think deeper into the story I'm trying to tell with my photograph. Instead of ending up with 20+ digital photos of one single subject that mostly get deleted, I get only a few meaningful, perfectly composed photos. 

Shooting film also significantly reduces the amount of time I have to sit at my computer. Instead of spending hours and days editing a wedding set, I simply mail my exposed film to my photo lab where it is processed and scanned for me to download from the internet - nifty! The only time I have to use my computer is to fine tune and remove tiny imperfections!

The process and the art of shooting film is beautiful and timeless and I hope my clients learn to love it as much as I do. I'm so excited to share my love for film in later blogs!