Welcome!

EMULSIVE is (among other things) a space for film photographers of all backgrounds to spread knowledge, experience and thoughts about everything related to film photography.

On the website, you will find a host of film stock and camera reviews, how-tos, as well as essays, photo stories and thought pieces from a network of super-talented and enthusiastic film photographers. You’ll also find the EMULSIVE Interview: a series of interviews with film photographers the world over.

How can you get involved?

The answer is: frequently and with passion. I love to hear your stories and feature them in this little corner of the internet.

I am currently looking for submissions in the following areas:

  • photographic film stock reviews and film camera reviews
  • long-form essays/thought pieces
  • photo stories and photo sets

…and full details of the submission process can be found here.

In short, if you have something to get off your chest, please get in touch and we’ll work something out.

If you’re a lab and would like to get featured on the Global Film Lab Map, please let me know. I’d also be honoured to feature you and your war stories.

If you’d like to be featured on an EMULSIVE interview, I am taking submission requests but please be aware that the interview queue is currently about 6-8 weeks out. Click here to get in touch.

Hang on, what’s this “reasonable advocate” rubbish all about?

The internet is a wonderful place to discover, share and converse but the inherent digital distance can have the handy side effect of creating argument and tension under the guise of discussion and debate.

By “reasonable advocate of film” I mean this: film as a medium of expression is an individual choice and absolutely 100% not suitable for each and every photographic endeavour.

I believe that while film remains far superior to digital photography in many ways, digital is also far superior in others. Each opinion, use-case and preference should be respected.

Although EMULSIVE is purely focused on film photography from an editorial standpoint, I respect that many of my readers (and featured interviewees) use digital cameras – so do I (mostly for shots of food/feet for Instagram).

Why do you do this?

The project was born from equal parts frustration and love – frustration with the lack of current, reliable examples and reference material for film stocks and film cameras; and love because I really do love the medium.

I want to share what we’ve learned and help the community do the same. There’s too much in the way of disinformation and old wives’ tales out there about film and in part, I hope to dispel and verify those claims through testing and demonstration.

…and the name?

EMULSIVE comes from a contraction of “EMULSion is emotIVE“, although the word itself conveniently also describes a substance that can be made into an emulsion – unexpected but nice!

It also has a nice feel to it and rolls nicely off the tongue, don’t you think?

Is it free?

Yes, access to EMULSIVE is free, and editorial is free of sponsorship.

There are display ads on the site to help and cover web/email hosting, associated service costs and the time I put into this effort (this is not a full-time effort but with only one person behind the scenes for the most part, my time spent on EMULISVE numbers in days per week).

In January 2018 I created a Patreon page to help support the rising costs of running this platform, as well as to help build out for the future. Everything you need to know about the why’s and what’s can be found over on Patreon.

That’s a long way of saying I really appreciate your decision not to use an ad blocker but if you do, consider writing an article or supporting EMULSIVE via Patreon to get ad-free access to the site on all your devices.

How often is the site updated?

Daily for the most part! 🙂

Hang on, EM and EMULSIVE? What gives?

EMULSIVE is a passion project started on June 1st 2015 and run by me, EM.

How can I keep up/get involved in the community?

I thought you’d never ask! The EMULSIVE community is most active (socially) on Twitter, although there are Facebook, Flickr and Instagram feeds you can follow to name a few.

You also have the option of following via RSS, via a daily/weekly newsletter digest or via browser notifications (you get a little nudge on your computer, tablet or phone every time a new article is published).

Did I miss anything?

If so, please drop me a line with your questions.

~ EM