Evolving Back to Film

After all these years of shooting and evolving with digital photography, I have mostly returned to film. You might ask why? Some reasons are, I’m retired now and I don’t want to continue upgrading digital cameras every few years. I don’t have to upgrade or update my analog cameras. I can buy a lot of film for the price of a new system and besides film is still beautiful. Shooting B&W film has always been my escape and very personal for me where I can be creative all by hand. Although, analog is a slow, daunting process, the results for me are worth the time spent in the darkroom. It tests every aspect of my skill and craft as a photographer. When it comes to my darkroom prints, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist and they need to be worthy of a wall. What hinders me in making prints is it can take hours to produce but when I mat the final print, it truly becomes an art piece. With my silver gelatin prints, I’ve had them in shows with “not for sale” on them. I’m so attached to the images and the work that goes into making them, I can’t separate myself from them. I’ve convinced myself people can’t pay me enough to give them up. As I’m getting older, maybe I could choose to get over my stubbornness and consider some options. I’ve been thinking about a project where people could collect my work but that’s way down the line.