Defeating Digital Imaging, One Image at a Time

One film picture, 980 Billion to go... Impossible you say?

Maybe, but a journey of a thousand rolls begins with one click. If enough of us MAKE THE EFFORT instead of just taking the easy way out, we'll keep film viable for a long time to come. Digital is easy, way to easy. Has it improved the overall image-quality for the masses? No question about that. But in the hands of a skilled photographer, there is usually a very specific gain in one format over the other and film still maintains advantages in certain circumstances.

A "skilled photographer" is not the same as a "professional photographer". Most professional photographers are no more skilled than than a professional call-center telephone operator. It's just the job they do. You have good ones, and not so good ones. Just because somebody earns a living doing something doesn't mean they are any good or talented or have a clue what they are doing. Frankly, most skilled photographers aren't professional photographers and most professional photographers aren't skilled photographers.

Where am I going with this? My point is that in the hands of a skilled photographer, the medium is generally selected not for convenience, but for specific results. A skilled photographer will make whatever sacrifice needed. Often times, in the digital age, this means investment in Photoshop, L-glass, full-frame sensored cameras and widgets galore. But it may also mean using a film camera.

BTW, I got my new National Geographic yesterday... There is an article in there where the images are definitely sourced from a film camera. Nice to see. If I had to venture a guess, the choice of film was specific to the location not being conducive to charging batteries as well as it being a high moisture environment.

I know that I'm not going anywhere--shooting film is just too rewarding to me. I've learned so much from shooting digital and taking what I've learned and applying much of it to film has been a wonderful eye-opener. But mostly, there is tremendous satisfaction in taking what is arguably one of the two or three finest 35mm cameras ever made and shooting with it. Who cares about the back-end process--once digitized, the images are all digital anyway, but it's about the shooting process that is so different and rewarding. Sometimes, as stated above, there are other inherent advantages to one medium over another or one camera over another.

Besides, for the quantity of pictures I shoot, both professionally and personally, to stay reasonably current in digital photography is a $1000 per year investment. By altering my "style" and giving myself a signature look, I can spend half that on film and processing. The numbers just don't work to be digital only.

The bad thing is that I'm now got a desire to acquire a very specific lens. A rather costly Zuiko. Grrrr.....