Back to the Future - shooting film after 20 years - part 1

Quite a different day for me today, photographically speaking. After almost 20 years i have shot a few pictures on film once more.  And the beauty is i cant show you the results yet because i haven't finished the roll, never mind sending it to the lab for processing. 

But what an enjoyable experience it was. Calculating exposure, manually focusing, winding on the film, the clunk of the mechanical shutter, the anticipation of the picture, writing down the exposure. It all adds up to a completely different picture taking experience. 

I was shooting Ilford Delta 100 on a Centon K100 with a 50mm lens. And being a typical June day here in the UK, the sky has moody and dark. So i also took my ND filter and a graduated ND to darken the sky.

I must admit i also brought my lumix along so i shot digital as well, but it was not as enjoyable as the film experience. For me, digital is too quick and easy. If you make a mistake with the composition or exposure you can correct it instantly. It removes the skill. For years i learned about gray scales, exposure tables, light meters, filters, aperture and shutter speeds and other techniques that you had to understand to take a decent photograph. In the digital era those skills have gone. They are no longer required. Now anyone can pick up a camera, set it to automatic and take a half decent image. Which in many ways is a good thing. The physics and mathematics of photography is not for everyone. But it does take away the real skill. Its a bit like a  pilot being told he's not needed anymore as all planes are flown by computers.

As you can probably guess i am old school. If i had one wish it would be to rid the world of computers. Nothing irritates me more than people missing things around them because they're looking at their phones. There is no need to record everything. Your eyes should be your camera lens and your mind the photograph album. My best memories are in my head, not on a phone.

So, the location for my return to film was Hoylake on the Wirral. As i have already said it was a very moody, stormy day which is perfect for bw. I'm hoping i took some nice dramatic images but i won't know until i get the film back. One of the most important items to carry with you on a shoot, if you want to get serious about your work, is a notebook and pen. The camera and filter settings for every images were noted down so when i get the film back i can learn what i did right or wrong. 

And to remind me what i was photographing i did take a few digital shots.