‘You only have one shot’: how film cameras won over a younger generation

ptpdprinter said:
'You never heard people say that they liked to send their film off for processing rather than having it done at MotoFoto because the anticipation of getting their film back in a week was so delicious.'
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Film is popular amongst the young 'uns nowadays because there's the safety-net of ubiquitous digital fallback, and so is seen as an alternative medium rather than the prime recording medium. It's like the popularity of mechanical watches. Back when we were teenagers and mechanical watches were all we had, we couldn't wait for watches that were 'accurate to the second' to become affordable. Now that atomic time via NTP to your mobile telephone (we won't mention those of us who still like pulse-loop dial telephones in a DTMF age but the analogy is the same) and radio is universal, folks have the confidence to wear mechanical wristwatches as the necessity for accuracy to the second isn't all it's cracked up to be, but is there when we need it.

It's like now the technology for instant gratification and atomic precision is freely available and universal, we can all enjoy the things we HAD to use whilst dreaming of those very things being affordable and available and within reach. A similar argument might be made for the resurgence of vinyl and cassette tape. Another reason for the popularity of analogue media and timekeeping might be that we all yearn for times past: of our youth and what we did with it. Who would rely on a 1968 Ford Escort to get them to work each and every day without fail or, at best, groping under the bonnet to wipe the damp from the plug leads? But who would not cherish the memories of what went on in that Ford Escort when travelling seamlessly to work in an anodyne (but thoroughly well-made and reliable) Volkswagen thing?

I might add that I still shoot film as I have been doing since I was ten (1969), and I still can't put my finger on the magical feeling of pulling a developed film from the tank and seeing images, there and then, after sloshing a few chemicals and some water in it. But a mobile phone camera is really like having a photocopier in your pocket and is technology beyond what was once our wildest dreams.

And I wear a Seiko automatic. :)
 
Thanks, Andy. A few more comments for the debate, anyway.

One other thing I’ve picked up on over the years, at work and at play, and that is nothing is ever as good as what went before it.
 
The Weston Family is keeping the tradition going: https://www.thewestoncollective.org/...on-scholarship

The Weston Scholarship

The Weston Scholarship is a portfolio competition for students studying fine art photography in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. The scholarship was established in 2004 by Kim and Gina Weston who hoped to preserve the legacy of black and white film photography set forth by Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. Every year, students are encouraged to submit a portfolio for the opportunity to win a scholarship to support their photographic careers.
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...and the Community Darkroom...

And a wonderful effort: Framing Photography’s Future
 
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