Regressing: Why I Went Back to Film
October 5, 2004
by Ian Kennedy
FiftyMillimeter.com, a shared photoblog
The first camera I ever owned was a Kodak Disc. I remember laying on my back at the age of five and taking pictures of the sky as seen through the treetops. I took more than one of each shot, not to be sure that it was in the can, but because the insubstantial plastic click was never completely satisfying. After my parents paid to have the photos developed, the camera went missing. But I remember my uncle saying that the pictures "weren't bad, actually."
Fast forward a few decades, and I found myself falling back into photography. I had picked up a Canon PowerShot S45 through my job as a designer, and began taking pictures to share with other designers and developers on super-secret Internet message boards. The photos were reasonably well received and the compliments encouraged me so much that I bought myself a Nikon F80, the first SLR that I could ever call my own. Not too long after the F80, I was able to convince my wife and myself that we could save money in the long run if we bought a digital SLR. And so, when the D100 came out, I was first in line to own one.
After a year and thousands of pictures, I decided that a DSLR, with all of its wonders, had an insidiously negative impact on the way I take photos. Because I was no longer worried about the amount of film that I was using, I frequently took three or more shots of the same subject and, to my shame, occasionally "chimped" those images as I took them.
Ian tries to capture life's smaller moments in his work, which comes out through his sense of the candid.
Now, don't misunderstand me, digital photography is great for commercial work. I shot four weddings and a couple of piecemeal freelance gigs with the D100, and, honestly, if I was to shoot another wedding, especially one for just any client, I would want to do it digitally. Shooting digitally frees the photographer from the concern that the shot has been missed. But, with that said, it also discounts the thought and craft, even the happy accidents of photography. I realized I had been relying on digital for what it too easily becomes: a crutch.
And so I traded my fancy digital SLR for an all-manual 35mm rangefinder with a 50mm prime lens. I was suffering a severe case of Leica lust, and had been for months, when I decided that I would spring for the next best thing, the Voigtlander Bessa R2 with the Voigtlander 50mm Nokton lens. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Why, you may ask, was this such a great move? First and foremost, it has forced me to think about what I am trying to do with my photography. Because decisions about focus, depth of field, and exposure are now all completely within my control, I have become more of a master of my final images.
The idea that I have so much control — not to mention the concern that I am wasting film and hence money — puts me in a different state of mind when I wield a camera now. As a person I am more thoughtful and because of that, I find that I produce more thoughtful images. The whole idea of the "decisive moment" as defined by the venerable Henri Cartier-Bresson, RIP, has become much more real to me.
However, there is no denying the power of the digital world. I've started a highly successful "photoblog" online where I regularly post my images and those of my friend Ross, who is all the way across the country. The community of photobloggers has grown rapidly and is often truly inspirational. I'm scanning my negatives on a Nikon CoolScan scanner and uploading them to the web, and I guess you could say I've embraced the possibilities of digital. The difference is that now I'm embracing digital as a means of getting my work out to anyone who wants to see it, and not letting it get between me and that decisive moment.
Ian Kennedy
FiftyMillimeter.com, a shared photoblog
Ian Kennedy is an avid photo hobbyist and sometime - professional. He lives and works in Athens, Georgia.
