Starting off with film

I hate to sound old-school and talk about the good old days of film, but a conversation with a friend last week got me thinking about it. My friend told me her 16 year daughter was getting into photography (and getting really good at it) and has been taking classes at school. In these classes the students are, not only required to shoot film, but also must process their own film.

You might be thinking that this is taking a step back in technology, but I think that would be the wrong assumption. I think by starting with film, it makes you a stronger photographer in all respects. For instance, in these classes the students are shooting with fully manual 35mm camera. This forces them to have a intimate knowledge of the relationships between shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, and ISO. Since film and processing is expensive, it also forces them to pay attention to what and how they are shooting. Wasted shots cost money.

Learning to process film and to print your own images also makes for a better photographer. 90% of the things you can do in Photoshop can also be done in a darkroom. It is obviously more difficult, but it provides a deeper understanding of how/why you manipulate an image.

OK, I may have a bias because shot film since I was 10 years old and worked in a darkroom since I was 13. But the students starting off shooting film with a manual camera have a decided advantage over those who start off shooting digital and lack the basics of how a camera works. And, for Pete’s sake, if you are shooting digital, shoot in manual mode not auto. 😉

Ok, that’s it for this week. Be sure to check out my galleries here.

-Ken