Opinion: Film inspires a slower approach to photography

Loading your camera with a roll of fresh film and going out into the world to make pictures is exciting and rewarding.

By Carlos Guillén Apezteguía

June 30, 2023 1:35 PM PT

Guillén Apezteguía is a photographer who loves to shoot film. He lives in San Diego and his work can be seen at cgaphotography.com and on Instagram, @cgaphotographs.

My personal journey with film photography began in college in the early 1990s. My dad gave me his Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera, and I enrolled in photography classes at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. One of our first assignments was to photograph something familiar, something relatable to our everyday lives. I loaded the camera with some Kodak Tri-X film and crossed the border into Tijuana. My dad ran his business down there, so it was familiar territory for me. I began to document everyday street life on both sides of the border. I loved shooting portraits, and I started to work with a magazine based in Tijuana, covering the local music scene. I remember the excitement of developing my film and printing in the darkroom. It was really magical, seeing those images appear on the paper in the chemical bath with the amber glow of the safelight overhead. I was hooked! Over the next several years, I kept shooting, and I transferred to UC San Diego to finish my degree in visual arts.

As technology continued to advance at a rapid pace, the rise and dominance of digital photography was inevitable. Slowly but surely, photographers including myself began to ditch film in favor of digital cameras. The quality of digital imaging improved tremendously over the years, allowing photographers to capture stunning high-resolution images on a chip the size of a postage stamp. Incredible! We no longer had to lug around rolls of film and reload the camera every 12 to 36 shots. We could literally shoot hundreds or even thousands of images and store them with ease on our memory cards, and transfer them electronically to our laptops or to the news desk in a matter of seconds. Who in their right mind would want to go back to shooting film? One would expect film to become obsolete at this point.

As it turns out, a lot of artists and photographers these days are embracing analog film photography, and it’s making a comeback. In 2017, I decided to pick up a film camera again, and my romance with analog photography was rekindled in big way. I set up a makeshift darkroom in my bathroom and began to process black and white film. I scanned my negatives and the resulting images had a gorgeous look with subtle nuances in tone, texture and grain. The visual language of film was making its way back into my art and I loved it.

To my surprise and delight, I found a large community of fellow analog photography enthusiasts on Instagram, as well as right here in San Diego, through groups like Beers and Cameras (@beersandcameras), I’m Still Developing (@imstill.developing) and SD Walkabouts (@sdwalkabouts). A lot of young photographers out there are making some amazing work with film, and it’s very exciting.

Aside from the aesthetic appeal that is unique to film, I think members of the younger generation who grew up with digital photography are embracing analog photography for multiple reasons. First off, shooting film requires a more mindful approach: It forces the photographer to slow down, and approach each shot with greater consideration. I think that this slower approach cultivates a deeper connection between the photographer and the subject, resulting in more meaningful pictures. The tangibility of analog photography is also very appealing to many people. Rather than digital files stored away on a hard drive, you get to see and hold and contemplate your slides and negatives. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I went back into my archive and scanned loads of my old negatives, and in a sense, rediscovered a lot of my early work. I can’t think of a single file from any hard drive I had 30 years ago that still exists. But my 30-year-old negatives are still in almost perfect condition.

I think the biggest reason for the resurgence of analog photography is that shooting film is fun! There’s always an element of anticipation and surprise that you just don’t get with digital. Loading your camera with a roll of fresh film and going out into the world to make pictures is exciting and rewarding.

The younger generation understands this and is embracing it. A lot of us who started shooting film before the advent of digital photography can also appreciate the enduring appeal of film. I would advise anyone who has an interest in photography and has not yet shot film to give it a try. Grab an old camera and have fun with it. If you’re not sure that you have it in you to develop your own film, take it to a local lab such as Safelight Labs, and it will develop and scan your film for you. So don’t wait, get out there and shoot some film! And most of all, have fun.