Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.”—Albert Einstein
Sometime during 2016 I wrote a post for my old blog, called Renew Your Creativity with Digital Imaging. The title of today’s post should give you an idea that, my, my how the times have changed. Since November, 2021 I have been immersing myself in film photography. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on digital photography and you can see some examples of my recent digital (infrared) photography on my latest podcast on my YouTube Channel, Joe Farace’s Videos.
In that old post I mentioned that, when referring to my digital photography, that “Over the past several years, my personal photography has enjoyed a sort of renaissance.” I’ll be honest, I have not been having a creative renaissance because of my film photography or even the videos that I’m creating for my YouTube channel. What I am experiencing with both of these pursuits is a constant challenge to my technical skills.
For too long it seems I had become complacent with all of the imaging and computer aspects of digital imaging while experiencing the Third Phase of what I described in The Three Phases of Photographer’s Creative Life as “There are no surprises.” That’s not what’s happening with my film images and videos that I’m creating where I am constantly confronting (what’s left of) my brain while wallowing in my First Phase of film photography.
How I Made this Photo: This image of a tree in McCabe Meadows near Parker, Colorado was part of a test roll that I recently shot with a Contax 167MT and Yashica 50mm f/2 lens with expired (2008) Fujifilm Neopan 400 Professional film, shot at box speed. Exposure unrecorded. The film was processed and scanned by Mikes Camera in their Boulder, CO location. Image was toned using the Platinum toning plug-in that’s part of PhotoKit.
In Perspective
To put it all in perspective, here’s just a few ways that film photography have sparked my interest in making and sharing new images:
Lack of Immediacy: Oh yeah, there is a reason that patience is a virtue. Instead of running home and sticking a memory card in the computer and sorting through way too many images, film photography not only gives you time to think about what you did but also what you should do next. Starting with: Do you send it to a lab or process the film yourself*? That latter option brings up an element of craft that while not entirely missing from digital photography is much more hands-on with film photography as you decide what kind of developer to use and will you be pushing or pulling your film or do you even know what pushing and pulling means?
A Film Cornucopia: I haven’t counted the number of different kinds of film that are available but it seems to me that there are more, different kinds of film stock available now than ever before in the history of 35mm film photography. There’s not just Fujifilm, Ilford and Kodak, all kinds of black & white and color film is available from many companies including Adox, Arista, Bergger, CineStill, DubbleFilm, Foma, Revolog, Silberra, Lomongraphy and lots more. There’s something here for everyone.
Internet: The World Wide Web lets me share images with others in many ways. This in turn leads to a motivation to create more and better photographs.
Any burst in creativity that’s happened to me or is happening to you has to come from inside. Whether it’s a new camera, new lens, a new kind of film or a combination of these factors, I’m glad to have the chance to share my thoughts with all of you here each day.
*I have not yet made a decision on home processing my own film yet. It’s not the film processing that concerns me; during the film days I used to love developing film in the kitchen and bathroom of my former home in Baltimore. It’s the scanning.
PS: Just a reminder: My video Why Film, Why Now is live on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at a my reasons and philosophy about why I’m a film photographer. Also Podcast #5 is available as well.