How to get kids interested in film photography?

Greyscale

Greyscale

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One way to get youngsters interested in film photography is to give youngsters film cameras to use. I am sending a box of fourteen point & shoot film cameras to a fellow who teaches film photography to underprivileged children. He plans to gift these kids a flickr account so they can publish their work online. I can't wait to see the results.

I would bet that most towns and cities have similar programs, or similar individuals, interested in providing safe ways for children and young adults to express themselves artistically. If you have any gear (or film) that is usable, but maybe not sale-able, it would be well worth seeking them out, and doing what you can to help.

Or maybe RFF could start a mentoring program of its own? I have seen (and been a part of) this forum's generosity towards other group members. Maybe it is time to "pay it forward" to the next generation?

Just a thought ...
 
When I go grocery shopping I often carry a little X2a - sometimes I leave it to the kids who play in the street where I live (i guess 8-10 year old), and get it back after 1 hr or so. They love the unusual (to them) feel of it - first thing they seem puzzled not to be able to check the pictures on the back.
Only thing, they don't seem concerned with the limited number of pics a roll holds - they truly snap everything in sight in a very carefree way. I develop the film and show them some of the the pics.
I think overall the best way would be teaching them some developing and darkroom, that is what makes film truly special and different from digital. I bet kids would love the process. Otherwise I feel film would just be a limitation to kids used to a much more free approach to photography.
 
Kids, wanting to upload pictures on Net, need digital cameras - I'm afraid to disappoint you. Who will pay for scanning? If it's not included in a package, costs will quickly turn them away. Film based photography may be expensive so you have either good sponsor or plan to control costs (expired film for next to nothing, donated cameras, sponsored dev&scan). I doubt families can support this hobby at full strength.

Probably better is teach them printing, and show scanning as an alternative. Maybe split process to printing B&W in darkroom (and scan prints for uploads) and print color by scanning film and sending files to minilab. Thus they will learn all steps not just get where could arrive faster with digicam. And those kids need serious leader to keep them interested.
 
btgc said:
Kids, wanting to upload pictures on Net, need digital cameras - I'm afraid to disappoint you. Who will pay for scanning? If it's not included in a package, costs will quickly turn them away. Film based photography may be expensive so you have either good sponsor or plan to control costs (expired film for next to nothing, donated cameras, sponsored dev&scan). I doubt families can support this hobby at full strength.

Probably better is teach them printing, and show scanning as an alternative. Maybe split process to printing B&W in darkroom (and scan prints for uploads) and print color by scanning film and sending files to minilab. Thus they will learn all steps not just get where could arrive faster with digicam. And those kids need serious leader to keep them interested.
Click to expand...

Minilabs and C-41 are the answer to that. It's usually cheaper to get a CD with low-res scans which are fine for uploading than to get actual prints.

Note that my experience is that the kids are alright, it's the 25-35 set which is fixated on digital for the most part. Lomography and related toy camera fads are driving the teens and early-20's types to film as a backlash against digital's mainstreaming.
 
Tell them this....

Tell them this....

Film captures the souls of the subjects....

They'll think it's a new video game and go nuts over it.
 
How to get Kids Interested in film.

How to get Kids Interested in film.

Young adults are interested in being different from the conventional which nowadays is "digital". Therefore, film has appeal in two ways:

1. It's Hip. A way to stand out and be different and look cool (rangefinders, folders, TLRs, Holgas, etc..) Old-School camera as fashion jewelry. It's the same reason why classic looking cars and bikes are still being maintained and even created - not to mention such anachronistic items such as fountain pens. Does a fountain pen write any better than a ballpoint or a computer keyboard? Of course not. A fountain pen is no longer simply a means to an end, but has become an end in an of itself. This principle is the salvation of all things "classic". Now, why should something of former mere utility become a means unto itself? In a word? Because it has soul.

2. It's a way for one's images to stand out and be different from the crowd. The "look" of a film image, especially taken with old lenses which draw differently from modern lenses.


Joe
 
My youngest likes film compacts and can actually take quite well-composed pictures with one (she's 5). She's hopeless with digicams. I think a viewfinder makes the difference, and the sound of the autowind is a kind of reward.

I like the permanence of film - there's more of a feeling of creation something when you know the image is indelible, not just a temporary collection of numbers on a flash memory chip. Maybe that's what we should sell.
 
_larky said:
Get them in a darkroom, let them see a print emerge from the developer.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. Printing is where it's at! And apropos what Joe/RedLion wrote above, I think that's the best way for kids to be "different from the conventional" when it comes to photography. Let them do what they can't do with a phone. Let them make and share prints with each other, and hopefully they will feel that a physical print (made by themselves, all the way) carries more meaning than the random Facebook picture. On the Internet, fabulous as it is, you certainly can't replicate the act of giving a print to another person...
 
The energy from the Sun can take up to 220,000 years to reach the Sun's surface from it's core, before taking the 8 and one bit minutes to hit the Earth. If you imagine the size of the Sun, and how small we are (and how far away), it's a minuscule percentage that we get. The photons that are born all those years ago and took that random path to the surface to be flung out at the exact vector to reach the subject you want to photograph, at the exact moment you release the shutter... the chances are beyond my early morning brain to calculate.

Those photons, born all those years ago, bounce off your subject and are guided through your lens onto the film, where the energy in them is captured forever in a chemical process. Now, if you sit back and think about all of that for a few hours, the next time you shoot a shot you'll not care if it was in focus or not.

Photography is fully cool.
 
To get kids interested in film photography you first need to get them interested in photography. Digital is good for that. I run into a lot of teens in my local photo lab with their first K1000 or FM2 after starting with the usual DSLR.
 
Be an example for your kids. My 10 years old son is crazy about digital stuff and iphones, ipads etc. but it's normal. The M2 system I put together for his birthday was really well appreciated and excepted. He is in love with that camera and attending a photography course now. It was his choice, not mine, and I am really happy about it.
If you are curious if your kids will like to shoot film you should give them a chance and camera first!
Grayscale - Respect!!! Count me in!
 
In fact, it was my kids that got me interested in film photography...after a long hiatus.

I'm a working graphic designer, and our house is swimming in wires, rechargers, iPods and iPhones, and too many Macs to count. I went to digital as soon as it happened, since it was simply miraculous. I use my own digital photos in my work all the time, thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, so my kids all had their own digital cameras of various sorts.

With the arrival of the B&H catalog, my then 14-year-old found the seemingly anachronistic section of film cameras, which he thought was comical. Then he noticed that there was a $27 film camera, the Holga, and asked about it. I told him that artsy types put those in the microwave to mess them up, among other stunts. He opened up his piggy bank and bought one, along with a few rolls of film.

Then my oldest son, then 25 or so, bought a Lumix GF-1, and started buying weird old Russian lenses for the thing, which I found fascinating. A Sonnar knock-off for $30? Incredible. He found a mint Canon P at KEH, and dropped hints about what a cool birthday present it would be...so I bought him one. Once it arrived, and I saw how amazing it was, I bought a second one for me. eBay was a revelation. A Canon A-1 for $75? Who could refuse?

From there, it snowballed. Son Number 3 noticed the old Rolleiflex on the shelf, and realized this was a much better camera than his Holga, and used the same film. I unearthed my old Canon F-1. Then I cleaned out the basement to put together the ol' darkroom that had been in boxes for 20 years.

Son Number 2, away at grad school, came home for Christmas to the new darkroom, and rolled his eyes. "Great," he said, "now everyone's into old cameras?" Now that I've got a new/old M2, I'll give him my Canon P.

Why? They really like the imperfection of it all, and the fact that it isn't instant and easy, and not everyone has one. My advice then, is to build a darkroom, enjoy it, and stand back.
 
My 10 year old daughter is very interested in photography. She shoots with her digital camera and with a variety of film cameras. Whatever she shoots on her digi gets deleted after she looks at it on the LCD. She has a "sponge bob" video camera that she makes little movies with and has saved ... two that I know of.

She also shoots disposable film cameras. Often I pay for development, but occasionally, she has spent her allowance on it. I think it is the ritual of her and I going to Walgreens to get the pictures back that attracts her. We spend some "quality" time looking at the prints afterward, and she keeps them in a drawer.

When she is a bit older, if she still has the interest, I will take her to the darkroom, so she can check out B&W printing.
 
I just bought a Blackbird Fly 35mm TLR that I'm going to give to my daughter when it arrives. It looks like it should be a lot of fun to shoot with.
 
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