The Allure of Film Photography

My chrome-bodied Nikon F is not the most inconspicuous camera in the world. When I have it hanging around my neck as I walk around town, it often draws looks from people, and sometimes those looks turn into brief conversations.

They often start with, “Is that a film camera?”

“Why yes, it is!” I say in response.

At that point, the conversation typically goes in one of two directions.

Some look at me in confusion and ask, “Why would you ever shoot on film?” Or it’s, “Where on earth do you even buy film?”

When I say that, yes, you can still buy film and that there’s even a shortage of it out there, some respond with something along the lines of, “Well, yeah, that’s because no one’s making it!” as if they’re cluing me in to something that should be obvious. A look of surprise then sets in when I point out that Kodak is running 24-7 and still can’t keep up with demand.

If I learn they have an old film camera in their closet, I might even go out on a limb and suggest that they consider dusting it off and using it. Their facial expression then becomes something akin to what you would expect if I had said, “Hey, would you mind holding this glowing nuclear fuel rod for a moment?”

On the other hand, some people react with eyes that pop wide open with excitement. “Oh, wow, that’s so cool!” they might respond. I smile, needless to say, and proceed to gush about how awesome it is to shoot on film. And they get it. Sometimes I even encounter other film photographers on my photo walks, and we have a moment or two of mutual understanding.

I have lost track of how many times these two conversational formulas have played out. But regardless of how those encounters go, I think it’s awesome that there’s so much interest in film photography.

It’s very possible that all this could be the latest fad and that people’s interest could suddenly shift away. But I’m hanging my hat on the belief that film will have a lasting presence. I often compare it to vinyl records, which never really went away even as the dominant record album technology changed over time.

If you’re skeptical about film photography, or if you just don’t get why it’s become a thing again, I have something for you.

With those doubts in mind—doubts that I myself harbored for quite some time—I put together this long-form article to express some of my thoughts about why film photography is so compelling, thoughts that have been percolating in my head for a while now.