Film photography amazes me. For me, it’s about latitude and depth, not megapixels and shutter actuations.

The film photography process can be intensely physical and in my opinion, connects the photographer to the image he or she has taken in a much more profound way than digital is able to do (with a few exceptions).

It’s safe to say that film photography is a real passion of mine. It’s one which I want to share and nurture, and it’s a passion that has, for the most part, lead me to create this little website.
I came back to film photography a few years ago, almost by accident. It was this shot from my second first roll of film that made me fall in love all over again.

This image was captured using a small, cheap plastic camera no larger or more expensive than the price of a six-pack of Coke in New York or London. The 36 exposure roll of film (purchase, processing and scanning), cost me less than half of that. 

OK, enough.  What’s the point of this?

As I’ve delved deeper into the world of film photography, I’ve found myself asking questions for which there’s no definitive answer.  In part, this is to do with the nature of the medium, it’s easy to experiment. In addition, there’s very little knowledge transfer and techniques get lost over time.

For the most part, I try and gather opinion but for the really silly questions, I simply go ahead and try for myself.

The result of all of this is that I’ve built up a mental knowledge base of useful and useless information, which may be of interest to those starting off in film photography, or those of you interested in experimenting with kit you already have.

I hope to condense what I’ve learned into a series of articles and features aimed at:

  • Breaking down the concept that film photography is hard, fiddly and unpredictable.
  • Removing some of the mystery behind film formats and stocks.
  • Providing a detailed reference for push-processing, cross-processing and film experimentation, alongside with the direct results of doing so.

In terms of specifics, well I have a few ideas in place.  Some of which might take more time to get rolling than others. To start off, I have a couple of film reviews for you to get stuck into here and here, as well as two articles covering Depth of Field and the relationship between your film, the speed of your shutter and the aperture of your lens.

For now, it’s time for me to sign off.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Leave a message in the comments, or get in touch via Facebook, or Twitter.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes,

~ EM

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