In an era where digital media can be found everywhere, it can be hard to find activities that allow for less screen time. But recently, analog technology like film photography has been making a comeback, allowing people to not only get away from the screens but reclaim old hobbies as new.
Julie Le, a student at the University of Calgary and an amateur film photographer, says she began with experimenting with her mother’s old film camera, which turned into a love for snapping pictures and waiting for the finished product.
“I love how you can’t see the photos you took right away until after you developed them, I love that I can discover it later,” says Le.
Le’s film journey has taken her everywhere from Calgary to Portugal where she found architecture was her favourite subject to shoot.
But with taking film pictures comes a long process of development, a process that some like Le are not as eager to participate in as they are with taking the photos.
This isn’t the case for Azriel Knight, a local photographer and longtime film camera user who says anyone can develop their shots with a little practice. He has a YouTube channel dedicated to his darkroom experiments and different development techniques for film camera users.
“Everything has to be done at a certain temperature. Especially with the developing process,” says Knight.
And everything must be done for a certain amount of time too. Knight says a huge part of the process is allowing the chemicals to sit in timed intervals before stirring to ensure the film role stays coated. Doing this ensures the image’s clarity.
From a newcomer’s perspective, the idea of developing film might be daunting. But Knight says all it takes is practice and that anyone with the time, supplies and interest can do it.
As the development process, shooting on a film camera takes patience and practice too.
“When you use a film camera everything slows down… the process makes you slow down and think about what you want to shoot, you can’t immediately check your work. You’ve got to trust that you’ve got the shot,” says Knight.
Knight was reintroduced to film photography in the late 2000s and found himself fascinated by the skill it took to set up each shot.
“I think I found a camera in a thrift shop, and I gave it a go. And everything sort of clicked with me,” says Knight. “There was this anticipation of seeing the photos bringing it into the 1-hour photo to have it developed and that waiting process. And being like, ‘oh yeah, I totally forgot I shot that.’”
But even as a professional photographer, Knight still has the same feelings toward film photography from when he first discovered his enjoyment for it.
“There’s a certain magic with film even when you understand the process,” says Knight. “It’s the anticipation.”
Film development is bringing back a new edge, not only allowing for less screen time but the return of the excitement of seeing the moments you’ve captured.
Republish our articles for free under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
We would love for you to republish our student work!
Just scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. It's free! We only ask that you follow some simple guidelines when doing so:-
You've gotta credit us. In the byline, we prefer “Author Name, Calgary Journal.” At the top of the story, include a line that reads: “This story was originally published by the Calgary Journal.”
-
If you’re republishing online, you must link to the URL of the original story on calgaryjournal.ca.
-
You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Abbotsford, B.C.” to “Abbotsford” or “here.”)
-
You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Please contact managing damclean@mtroyal.ca for more information.
-
Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent way to contact you.
-
If you share the story on social media, we’d appreciate a shout-out @CalgaryJournal (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)
- If we send a request to change or remove Calgary Journal content on your site, you must agree to do so immediately.
This policy was adapted from ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch.
If you have any other questions, contact our managing editor Archie McLean at damclean@mtroyal.ca