End of a flirt: I'm back to film

[Andrea Taurisano]

In 2008, I left my not so young but dear and faithful Leica for a young, sexy M8. I kept seeing her everywhere, on TV, in magazines, internet, always there looking at me, so seductive that I just had to have her. It turned out to be just a flirt, and ended as soon as an even more seductive babe (M9-P) made herself available.

Needless to say, the excitement and the passion of the beginnings gradually faded away. I spent the last few years basically trying to replicate the feeling and emotion that my first real love used to give me.. struggling to convert dng files to achieve that grainy, contrasty, sometimes even gritty look that I love so much, and that Tri-X delivers with so little effort.

What's the point of shooting M9 if you're looking for a "Tri-X feel", when you can shoot actual Tri-X in a M6, which is at least as "sexy" and way less expensive?

So here we go. From now on, a digital compact will do for all color work. Everything else will be scanned film. My blog followers apparently loved the digital b/w I did the last few years. Will they still love it or will they turn away? You know what? with all due respect, it's time to think about what I love, not others.

 

[helen.HH]

Haha...Sweet little Tale of Woe
Must Agree with You....its Good to follow One's Bliss

Though I do think in Today's World...more so in the Pro industry
BOTH tools are Essential

 

[shadowfox]

Bravo!
If we are more honest to ourselves, I suspect more of these would transpire.

 

[cz23]

May you both live happily ever after. It's the opposite for me. Just reconnecting with film after many years of separation, but so far am finding her too fickle. There's no denying her looks and style, but she's just too high maintenance.

John

 

[hepcat]

There is a time and a season for everything under the heavens. Digital and film are not mutually exclusive, and each has its place. 😉

Your blog is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

 

[noisycheese]

$1000 USD for a nice used film M vs. $7950 USD for a new M-Monochrom. The choice seems obvious to me... 😀

 

[clcolucci58]

Just Film For Me

Just Film For Me

Love shooting B&W film but have to admit I thought of the ideal of getting into some digital for color but then I thought about it again and came to my senses that film is what I enjoy the most and would not like pixels and photoshop at all 😎😎

Regards
clc

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

There was a time

There was a time

I just developed and scanned two rolls of Adox Color Implosion C-41 film that promises lots of grain and colors of the kind you get by cross processing.

As for the colors, I wouldn't know. The scanner interprets them anyway while inverting to positive, and Lightroom lets you do the rest. But that grain, man.. mind blowing. I dedicated a little blog post to the feeling that gave me.. here.

 

[shadowfox]

I just developed and scanned two rolls of Adox Color Implosion C-41 film that promises lots of grain and colors of the kind you get by cross processing.

As for the colors, I wouldn't know. The scanner interprets them anyway while inverting to positive, and Lightroom lets you do the rest. But that grain, man.. mind blowing. I dedicated a little blog post to the feeling that gave me.. here.

Andrea, love it.
Left a comment on your blog.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Andrea, love it.
Left a comment on your blog.

Thanks so much for appreciating, Will.

 

[peewee]

Good to look at your blog..Thankyou!..

Some people really make digital b+w work but I just can't, useless at the pp I reckon and I cannot fathom WHY I love clicking film cameras more than digital ones and processing film, esp 120..It makes me feel warm and happy inside)

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I suspect that many of us have had such dalliances in the past 10 or so years.

I started shooting film in the early 1970's when I hit my teens. Digital is seductive as is peer pressure and I ended up with a string of Nikon DSLRs culminating with my current D800 - which my wife uses much more than do I.

My current squeeze is a Mamiya 7 - but I'm very partial to My Hassy and Nikon F / F2 / F3 etc...

For those of us who cut our teeth on film, I doubt there'll ever be permanent replacement for it....

 

[Godfrey]

In 2008, I left my not so young but dear and faithful Leica for a young, sexy M8. I kept seeing her everywhere, on TV, in magazines, internet, always there looking at me, so seductive that I just had to have her. It turned out to be just a flirt, and ended as soon as an even more seductive babe (M9-P) made herself available.

Needless to say, the excitement and the passion of the beginnings gradually faded away. I spent the last few years basically trying to replicate the feeling and emotion that my first real love used to give me.. struggling to convert dng files to achieve that grainy, contrasty, sometimes even gritty look that I love so much, and that Tri-X delivers with so little effort.

What's the point of shooting M9 if you're looking for a "Tri-X feel", when you can shoot actual Tri-X in a M6, which is at least as "sexy" and way less expensive?

So here we go. From now on, a digital compact will do for all color work. Everything else will be scanned film. My blog followers apparently loved the digital b/w I did the last few years. Will they still love it or will they turn away? You know what? with all due respect, it's time to think about what I love, not others.

I dunno, Andrea. Your post suggests a bit more anthropomorphizing than I'm comfortable with. I like my cameras, and some I like more than others, but they are just tools to me.

I like to work with both film and digital capture. Each has its distinctive look and feel, its specific advantages and disadvantages for use in different circumstances, and its own flavor of flexibility and versatility. One is not better than the other, other than for a specific purpose or look that I am trying to achieve.

So if working with a film M and Tri-X does what you want for some portion of your work, go ahead and do it. And if working with an M8.2 or M9-P, or a digital compact, does what you want for some other portion of your work, go ahead and do that. Why make a big pronouncement about it? Different intents, different goals and purposes, different tools to achieve them to your satisfaction ... that's all.

I like your book and your website. Keep going, developing your vision, however you prefer to work and with whatever tools. 🙂

G

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Thank you Godfrey. Actually, some work I deeply admire is made entirely with digital cameras, and with a black and white rendering I couldn't like better. For instance Sobol's series Arrivals & Departures shot on Leica Monochrom.

I tried for years to get results that I was really pleased with from my M9, but never quite achieved them, never consistently at least. Not because the digital medium is inferior, but because it demands post processing skills I never fully developed. Shooting film does not give me exactly that look either, but one I love just as much and manage to achieve easier and more consistently. And forces me to slow down. Right now, I prefer it, one day, who knows? ;-)

 

[Snowbuzz]

Brave choice, congrats!