1-Final.png)
As the new year has finally settled, my goals for the year have become clear, and my first priority is to slow down. Not necessarily to take pauses, but to learn patience and to learn the pleasure of ‘little things’ and ‘little moments.’ In other words, I want to pretend as though my life really is a nineties rom-com, with Al Green playing in the sun-soaked background and make everything I do count. This means having to step out of the digital world and appreciate my handwriting, to read the books I have lined up on my shelf, and to indulge back into film photography. The last activity is one I have become particularly keen to take more seriously.
The past few weeks my phone has been quitting on me with the infamous ‘iPhone storage full,’ my SD card - even worse. And I truly blame myself because I have become so equipped to take a photograph, or two, or twenty, anytime anything remotely interesting sparks my need to capture it. And now I am left with photographs, screenshots and videos that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, I open my film folder and each photo means something. I remember the moment, the story, the people, and they become so wildly important to me. Naturally, I’ve decided to put my phone away and reload the camera to become an analog girl, an increasingly prevalent occurrence for a lot of young people.
Needless to say analog photography has made a comeback as of recent years. Your grandparents used it, your parents used it, and now you’re using it as well? Why is it that so many digital natives are immigrating to the world of film?
To understand its rise, we must first dissect its fall. Analog photography had been growing and improving since the 19th century until the fast-paced digital photography industry took over in the early 2000s. Digital photography’s natural popularity was gained as people were now able to take multiple photographs and not depend on the often unpredictable nature of film photography. It was time efficient, cost efficient and was adaptable to a world that was also becoming digital. As a result, the Kodak company declared bankruptcy in 2012, going from one of the main suppliers of casual photography to a nostalgic name of a company people used to love. And with it, film photography became a fad of the past and a so-called sub-par sector of photography.
However, the 21st century brought in a digital revolution that became too much, ergo the rise of the next film era. People began to realise not everything needs to go digital, as we are already losing touch to the reality surrounding us. And so, film photography made a comeback, with a generation of digital lifetimers wanting to indulge in a simpler form of media. People began to re-attach to the beauty of film. Think Nan Goldin’s photography, think Martin Scorcese’s films, think the 90s house parties you wish you got to go to.
Although I cannot scientifically wrap my head around how film photography works, I can understand and appreciate the method and results that so many other people have learnt to enjoy. Unlike digital photography, analog is very unique and almost unreplicable, as each frame has the ability to change. A frame will depend on the type of film roll used, its grain, its adaptation to light, and the user’s aim. Although much like an iPhone, a picture can be taken in a simple click of a button, the magic is done within the camera itself which determines its end result. Naturally, there are often a lot of imperfections, a lot of ruined frames, but it's this patience and surprise that captures the user. And even between all these imperfections and light flares, there are still crisp, saturated frames and an immense sense of nostalgia that is hard to find in other visual media and aestheticism.
Furthermore, digital photography introduced fast paced media due to the expectation of quick content often leading to a careless attitude in what is being captured. However, in a world where so many people are exhausted by quick content, the cost and novelty of film photography teaches one to take each image carefully and sparingly, meaning the moments captured were significant enough to want to remember. As a result, we end up with pictures of things we truly love and not just for the sake of taking a picture but to actually snapshot that moment in time. Film photography, although not a literary form, is in many ways, a love letter. It is a piece that holds so much importance and irreplaceable value which is what pleads people to keep buying another roll.
Film photography teaches us to appreciate small details, small moments and to wait to enjoy them again with patience. It captures scenes that no one else would understand unless they were looking through that very lens. There is not one frame I used that I ever regretted and no face I captured that I ever forgot. So, it is safe to say, that if all my digital photos were lost today but I was left with all my rolls of film, I would still be left with my most treasured pictures yet. Film truly gives you the chance to appreciate your friends, the places you go and the things you see all a little bit more. And I think going into 2025, it is time we all grow a capsule of our lives and the most whole-hearted moments in it.
Cover Photo shot by Maya Zainalabedin on disposable film
at Hardzine Launch Party (December 2024).
Comments