Anyone who browses my website will probably stumble across "Silver Halide Projects," a page dedicated to some of my film photography. Even though most of my work is digital, I'm still passionate about film photography. It separates me from the computer – at least until the final scanning – and creates something physical: the negative. Film photography forces the photographer to slow down, and truly compose the photo mentally.
Fuji Pro 400H; Pentax 645
To me, film has a different look, and a different mood than digital. When photographing somewhere with dim light, the resulting grain in film can give an impressionistic feel to a black and white shot, whereas digital grain can simply look unpleasant. Likewise, great colour films that Fuji and Kodak make have lovely palettes of colours hard to imitate in digital post-processing.
Ilford Delta Pro 3200; Pentax K1000
To pursue this passion further, I've upgraded my film scanner to an Epson V550, and added a Pentax 645 to my camera collection. The 645 uses large film. The image it creates inside the camera is larger than the sensors of the average professional camera, and comparable to the sensors in cameras that cost as much as luxury cars. This means higher resolution, and the ability to produce photos that really pop with a 3-D feel.
Ilford 400, pushed two stops; Pentax 645
Here's to film – still beautiful, and still relevant.
