Poll Results: Do You Shoot Film?
The results are in! Although I rarely shoot film myself anymore, my roots, like so many photographers out there today, are in film. I love the richness of virtually anything Fujifilm makes and I keep finding more and more photographers refusing to give up film. I’ve even run into a few who have gone back to film, combining the best of both worlds – shooting film, scanning the images and working with digital files.
The actual statistics on the survey showed almost 8% of photographers are shooting film exclusively, while 9% said less than 50% of the time. Jose Villa would be a great example of a photographer totally dedicated to film, with Joe Buissink in the category of shooting both film and digital. The remaining 83% cast their votes for “not at all” and “rarely”, which isn’t surprising. I’m not about to proclaim myself a rocket scientist, but 322 people answered the poll, enough to simply make it an interesting statistic.
Jose and Joe aren’t alone. Check out Elizabeth Messina, Jonathan Canlas, Lisa Lefkowitz and Rodney Lough Jr just to name a few. All film shooters and each doing remarkable work.
About four years ago I was at a gallery opening of Chris Ranier’s in Santa Monica. The work was shot on Hasselblad with film. The images were scanned and then printed on an Epson Stylus 9800, since replaced with even better technology with the 9880 and 9900. Media 27, one of my most favorite creative companies on planet earth, did the images and produced Ancient Marks, the subject of the exhibit. The work was spectacular with an amazing tonal range. Every image was at least 40×40 and exquisite. Without question Chris and Media 27 took advantage of both technologies to create some of the most stunning images I’ve ever seen!
So, while some of you are in mourning over the loss of film, I wouldn’t wear totally black just yet. In fact, there was an article in the Sunday Los Angeles Times about 18 months ago that profiled a wedding photographer in L.A. She talked about how she shoots exclusively on film, positioning herself as an artist and a craftsman!
What goes around, comes around and it sure is fun seeing that it’s film.
This post has 6 comments
January 7th, 2010
I love shooting film and the way it looks! I started out on digital but switched to film a few months ago and I am so glad I did!
January 7th, 2010
Get post we have look at film again for our personal work. So this post is a much needed encouragement we have been shooting video with old super 8 for weddings and brides are loving it. Jose is a big inspiration behind all of this with his commitment to the cause of Film.
January 7th, 2010
I recently started to shoot film again, for both personal and commercial. It was nice to have to really focus on the details.
I did however, forget how difficult it is to travel with high ISO films though. Last week in the airport I asked for my film to be “Hand Inspected” (120 – Illford 3200).
The guy pulled the spool and ruined the whole roll of WWII Fighters and bombers I had flown to Palm Springs to photograph on my old Hasselblad 500c. I know next time, i’m just gonna mail the exposed film home to myself.
Our local Polytech school here offers Darkroom classes and general film classes – They all have significant waiting lists now (according to an associate that teaches there). I’m glad to see film still kicking and screaming while others try to drag it out of the industry.
January 8th, 2010
I have not let go of film. I have been shooting events for over fifteen years, with Hasselblad and Nikon. People gaze at my Hasselblad as if it’s a prehistoric fossil. I used to believe, that to be a really “valid” photographer, you needed to put in your time and master film. I am not quite as convinced these days. The issue is, most of my clients now are only familiar with all things digital. They are not interested in spending the time or the money (and I am not placing blame here, it’s just a reality) to educate themselves about the beauty of film (and why it is so worth it to hire a shooter who incorporates film). The majority of people these days are comparison price shopping and beautiful digital images are as far as they need to look (and spend). I realize that the clients with bigger budgets/highest end weddings will still spend more for film (and prints! what a concept), but that demographic is not supporting the wedding photography industry these days. I still, however, have no plans to quit with my lovely film.
March 29th, 2010
I’m “old school” and started photographing weddings over 20 years ago on my Hassy. Up to a couple of years ago I was still shooting landscapes on my Mamyiya 7 with Velvia.
Nowadays I use digital, and I love the flexibility that it gives me, but can’t tear myself away from film completely – it doesn’t make sense financially these days, but I just love the process and the cameras … well, they’re so much more tactile and solid than today’s SLRs!
I can’t see me giving up film just yet!
March 29th, 2010
Ian, you’re not alone. Check out Jose Villa’s blog a short time ago about his love affair with film. (http://josevillablog.com/2010/01/loving-film-in-todays-digital-world/) then visit Elizabeth Messina’s site, Jonathan Canlas and Rodney Lough Jr. You’re in great company!