(These are some of my last film images ever taken. It MAY have been on my last roll.)
I haven’t processed my personal work from NYC in November.
I haven’t looked at anything from Christmas.
It is happening more and more often.
I don’t want to be in front of a computer.
I am here to work, and then I go. I like it that way, but I have just begun missing my own family in front of my camera.
Over the last six months, my phone has been my main source of picture taking in my family, simply because IT IS SIMPLE and always with me. The phone is small, I have it on my person all the time. I don’t have a camera on me all the time. It is unobtrusive, easy to grab candid moments without anyone paying attention. Not so with my DSLR.
Most of the time, I am okay with sticking with my phone, but there are times when I miss shooting manually with a really rad lens.
What I want:
Something easy, manual, transportable, and done once I click the shutter.
Which is making me think: maybe shooting my family with film is what’s up.
Once upon a time I learned on a Canon Rebel. Just as the digital photography thing was getting going, I was learning how to manually expose and process film in a lab. I remember being in my local camera store, and the guy behind the counter telling a customer, “Digital cameras will NEVER be able to match the superior quality of film.” To give you an idea of where I came from. I was uninterested and happy to shoot my Kodak c41 and my Portra 400. The moment I finished a roll, I would race to one hour photo. I couldn’t stand the waiting.
Then, Jeff, the ever present gadget guy, bought me a digital camera. It gave me the instant gratification I was so impatient about with film. And I never looked back. I haven’t loaded a roll of film since 2003. (WHAT?)
I think I might get out the ol’ Rebel and see what that girl still has in her.
I wonder if it will be an answer to my dilemma.
Thoughts?
it sounds like this really might be the answer to your dilemma! I found the answer to mine with VSCO film. I can have the instant gratification of digital with the look and decisiveness of film and I love it! I am finally really satisfied with my work and able to keep up with the tons of shots I take of the ones I love. I also am SO thankful for Instagram as it is a way to leave DSLR at home when we are on the beach or hiking etc and not feeling like Im missing capturing the moments. I know everything is documented on Instagram in a way that I love visually and and that frees me to focus on the artistic shots with my DSLR and experiment more. I love how this medium is fluid and always progressing. It can be confusing but I think when each person find what works for them it is such a gift :)
oh and Polaroids – love them ;)
I just love that you said “on my person”
Oh, my gosh! Love the last one – there’s so much love in there!
Shoot film! You’ll be happy you did!
I’m no professional Tara, I take photos just to document my kids and family. But I had a Canon Rebel film camera as well and the photos from film are so much better in quality then the digital. I have a digital and while yes it’s cheaper because I can download and delete any crappy ones the anticipation and excitement I got from film is not there anymore. So I join you in dusting off my little old Canon Rebel film camera and will shoot away.
Do it! What are you waiting for!? Film is amazing.. you are amazing. ;)
so inspired! my personal family images shot with my dslr spend their time collecting dust as well….definitely pulling out my old film rebel or even my dad’s old film camera and seeing what happens! you could start a movement ms. whitney :)
Oh, my goodness your family has grown! Im missing that little puddin’ age, when they were little and had not a care in the world, everything was an adventure…..
My daughter graduated from college this weekend, she’s looking forward to this new adventure called real life.
I am regretting that at times I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have, the Iphone has been a godsend, the pictures are great and Ive learned that a bad, blurry, or great Iphone pic is better than no pic at all ; )……Living life now…. Thanks for your posts recently….
that’s it, I’m convinced we are living parallel lives :o
I found the answer with this little guy. I can’t express how I was/ am at the exact same spot as you! I had to first admit that I am not the photographer mom who is EVER going to carry my nice camera. I’m just not, and I first had to be ok with that. I am so with you. I love my work, but for me to love it I must spend as little time as possible at the computer. Along with outsourcing much of what I do (I basically found someone, an artist, and approached her about processing my images. It took some time, but now she is better than me at photoshop :) and my life is much much better!)
Anyway, here is what I asked for for my 30th birthday in December. The lens on this thing is awesome. It’s cute and white and super small. Images print sharp and great and its all jpg and auto! (however, it can also shoot RAW and manually) oh and it goes down to f2.8 meaning you really never need a flash (but its there! for those school programs and stuff where you need it and you find yourself saying “I only use available light, LOL!)
It’s rad!
http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/DMC-LX5W
I couldn’t beleive when I read this post, because I have had the same thing on my mind lately. I feel like shooting digital for my family is lacking something. I really want to get back to shooting film, and experience that feeling of excitement you get when you receieve your prints, not knowing what you will find!
Yes film has this wonderful mystery surrounding it — however, I remember several rolls of film that never caught on my original SLR OM1 & the sadness when I sent off the film to discover it was never exposed! (Yes, I was a beginner at the time!) I even remember the pics I thought I took with those 2 rolls of film… Another time they lost my film when I sent it to be developed (when I learned to put a return address label on each roll of film from then on…) So, yes film has this wonderful allure, and the ability of being printed without post processing but I have to admit, I’m still in love with digital! (maybe ’cause I shot film for over 26 years & digital for just over 9 years—it’s still “new” to me!)
Go girl!
Ahhh film. How I miss those days. You may have inspired me to get my olddddd film Nikon out of the cupboard and dust her off ;)
I very rarely shoot my own kids with digital anymore. I shoot all my personal work on FILM. Even when I go to sessions, I take my film camera with me. To catch a little something just for me. Yes, I have fewer photos. But those fewer photos mean more to me. I hate hate hate editing. With FILM, I just don’t. I could but I don’t.
I won’t lie, film is expensive now. I think about that a lot, it isn’t about just marking an image with an x in LR to get rid of it, I am paying for whether it turns out or not. So I am very selective and hold out. Of course, I didn’t learn this lesson until after a 300.00 lab bill.
http://stephaniewellsphotography.com/the-blog/2011/10/11/about-to-fall-pittsburgh-film-lifestyle-photography.html
i’ve been feeling this too, this want to capture my family on something more permanent than instagram but not wanting to spend the time in front of the computer downoading, then processing, then uploading somewhere to print, then waiting for them…
i started with a rebel too, but am now thinking of going polaroid again!
Yes, Jennifer, I meant reprinted. I did do that to some negatives I had found and they were less blurry, even, on top of the better color. Made me instantly run through my head all those negatives I had tossed.