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Well-known
Film is not always cheap, and it's certainly not free. My journey with the home darkroom and home development started with the usual mix-match of different films and whatever developer I could get a hold of. Fixing an image onto a little strip of plastic was magical in its own right. As I progressed into shooting with intention, I fell into two bad habits:
- Not buying what I wanted. The stock I shot a lot of was cheap, and probably not that bad in it of itself - but it did not have the look that I wanted... but it was cheap!
- Trying to be too conservative with chemicals - Although I knew it was "wrong", it was still making images, so I used my developer long after it should have been discarded
I always enjoyed shooting, but the development never lived up to my expectations. I often would shoot, scan, file the negs away and never really think about them again. This all came to a "crisis of identity" when I started to get serious about printing - I just could not find many negs that I wanted to print. The contrast, grain, and sharpness where all uninspiring. I committed to giving it one more try, but this time with the film stock I would want to shoot, and forcing myself to not cheap out on the chemistry - what a difference it made. There are more shots on this first roll that I want to try printing than all of my previous rolls combined.
My takeaway is that shooting film is a choice we make, and if we are going to devote the expense and time to do it, we are robbing ourselves when we make sacrifices to save money. Instead, look at the cost in the long run and include that in your personal / family budget. Yes, my cost-per-roll is now double what it used to be, probably close to $5/roll once it's shot, developed, and archive sleeved - but if I budget for 1 roll a week, that's sacrificing the equivalent of 1 Starbucks drink a week to give me the opportunity to make 4+ interesting images a day. I know that the bottleneck is now my time and creativity, not the finances.
- Not buying what I wanted. The stock I shot a lot of was cheap, and probably not that bad in it of itself - but it did not have the look that I wanted... but it was cheap!
- Trying to be too conservative with chemicals - Although I knew it was "wrong", it was still making images, so I used my developer long after it should have been discarded
I always enjoyed shooting, but the development never lived up to my expectations. I often would shoot, scan, file the negs away and never really think about them again. This all came to a "crisis of identity" when I started to get serious about printing - I just could not find many negs that I wanted to print. The contrast, grain, and sharpness where all uninspiring. I committed to giving it one more try, but this time with the film stock I would want to shoot, and forcing myself to not cheap out on the chemistry - what a difference it made. There are more shots on this first roll that I want to try printing than all of my previous rolls combined.
My takeaway is that shooting film is a choice we make, and if we are going to devote the expense and time to do it, we are robbing ourselves when we make sacrifices to save money. Instead, look at the cost in the long run and include that in your personal / family budget. Yes, my cost-per-roll is now double what it used to be, probably close to $5/roll once it's shot, developed, and archive sleeved - but if I budget for 1 roll a week, that's sacrificing the equivalent of 1 Starbucks drink a week to give me the opportunity to make 4+ interesting images a day. I know that the bottleneck is now my time and creativity, not the finances.
