I've been exploring a bit of film photography lately just to mix up the madness of photography a bit. Medium format is my latest adventure and I've enjoyed the process as well as the results I'm seeing with that format of film photography.
You might wonder...why in the world are you even considering going back to film? There are few reasons, but mostly because of the look and texture that film photos exhibit. There are continuing efforts to replicate the look by editing digital photos to look like film, but often it falls short. There is also an intentionality to shooting film with each shot being much more measured and considered. The process of shooting thousands of images is narrowed down and speaks to my desire to be more selective in my shots.
With a recent engagement client, we decided to incorporate a single roll of medium format Portra 400 film into their session. While we still primarily shot digital, having just 16 shots of film in that medium format 120 roll definitely forced me to be more intentional. Out of the 16 shots, I felt like I had about 14 usable images that where "keepers" so here are a few from that batch of film
As you can see perhaps, there is a softness and highlight roll off that film exhibits. A bit of grain and texture that is hard to explain, but does indeed exist. I'll probably continue to incorporate a bit of film into our work here and there. Some clients have even began to request it a bit which does incur a bit of an upcharge due to the prices (120 film is about $16 per roll and processing/scanning is about $20 per roll).
Let me know your thoughts on film photography!