York on film...

York, United Kingdom (2012)

Would you have perhaps imagined that I took this picture using coloured film? It sure wasn't that long ago that cameras used film and you had a limit of 36 exposures. Technology has certainly developed over the years. I remember my childhood was captured on various film cameras and from time to time, selecting a wallet from the draw with a random date kind of just takes you back. I find coloured film nostalgic.

I never imagined York to be an old place, the photo above, says it all really, but even the roads were cobbled and mainly untouched by the modern man. It was a coincidence that I wanted to try out coloured film here. I had been using black and white HP5 film during my first two semesters at University, but other than the odd disposable camera, I had never used a proper coloured film with a proper film camera.

Black and white is one thing. It is very classic, very vintage and the grainy quality is one of a kind. I wondered if I would get such an effect with colour but I have found that once a print has been scanned, there is almost a clear-film like texture overlaying the image and I quite like it. It is what a photograph is supposed to look like, in my eyes anyway. I have learned over this year that photography is about truth and capturing what the eye can see, unlike in painting. However my style and my interest in photography is making the photographs a little different from what you see and I like this because it is almost like an escape to from the real world. You can take bits you like from them and make them richer or desaturate them and I guess from saying this that the digital world suits me very much, however I still love using film.

What I have found, also, when scanning in a film print is that if you don't deselect auto-exposure then that is how you get a more saturated image. In addition, by comparing the images below is that the auto-exposure image is more like the digital cameras of today. There is certainly more definition and more truthful to reality but it is the fact that anyone these days can take an image like that and it is the quality of the film that makes it unique.

scanned - straight from print
   (no alterations)

scanned - (+ auto exposure)

Not much of a difference?

foggy - natural

auto exposure - more definition

There is a subtlety but it depends on what you are looking for and how fussed you are. 

The great thing about photography, these days is that you can experiment to your hearts content. However new cameras and the progress of technology wouldn't have happened without experimentation in the first place. I believe it can get you far. 

Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/