It's the little things that give me hope that film will be around for a long time to come. Digital is here to stay, no doubt about it, but I think more and more people are having a go at real photography (as opposed to "digital imaging") as well.
One of the latest converts is the well-known street photographer, Eric Kim, who has now turned to film (the classic combination of Leica M6, 35mm Summicron and Tri X) for his street photography. Eric, who's a popular figure, said digital is now "dead" to him for street photography.
Based in Los Angeles, Eric (pictured above with something plasticky before he saw the light) has travelled the world shooting in places such as Paris, London, Prague, Venice, and Seoul. He also teaches photography workshops. The influence such guys can have on digital photographers should not be under-estimated.
In a post on his website (admittedly, it was back in April but it's new to me!), Eric said, "Shooting film for me has made me a better street photographer. I am now far more selective when shooting on the streets, I enjoy the zen-like process more, and I am able to edit my shots better.
"Shooting film is not for everybody, but I still highly recommend everyone to try it out. If you have an old film camera collecting dust at home, blow off the dust, change the battery, pop in a load of film and go out and try it out. You might like it a lot more than you expect. You might hate it. Just try it out!
"I am now fully-committed to film for my street photography, but who knows how long it will be for. If something better than digital comes out, who knows - I might switch to that! But for now, I am enjoying the ride!"
Well said, Eric. Read the rest of the post here.
I am fully aware of the virtues of film photography having used, two Rolleiflex TLR cameras and Pentax Spotmatic cameras with 8 prime lenses for more than 10 years and my Spotmatics are still in use with B/W photos. I once owned a Leica IIIg but decided it was much too basic and not for me. Nevertheless I shall not be dumping or selling my digital hardware. These are complementary mediums that I enjoy. Chacun a son gout!
ReplyDeleteI still have my DSLR as well, Jackie, but it's not seeing much use at all. In fact, I just bought a T2 mount so I can use it with a slide copier to digitise my negs for posting to the blog. Much faster than scanning and not much difference in quality as far as screen images are concerned. I'll keep using the D700 for stock photography as well.
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