Young Generation Getting Interested in Film Photography

zauhar said:
You pose as a bike messenger by acquiring a fixed-gear bike that you can't properly ride. You can spot these kids immediately because they are usually pushing the bike - and when not pushing they are at the point of colliding with someone. ;-)
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I get that part. But ultimately being a bicycle messenger is a job... buying a piece of equipment associated with a job doesn't make you a poser necessarily. Plus, fixed gear bikes are not exclusive to bike messengers.

As for learning to ride the bike, you have to start somewhere... this would make everyone learning how to ride a bike a poser.
 
Whatever the motivation, whatever their age...I'm glad people are getting interested in film who were previously only exposed to digital (oops...sorry about the pun). Maybe the next generation will realize the fundamental value of a good image, what it takes to make one, and maybe the pro photography business will rise from it's ashes.

In the meantime, I personally hope people start shooting more slide film to bring those prices down and expand the meager supply of E-6 processors. After all, it's all about me 😉
 
I'm in my early 20s and shooting (bw) film since a couple of years. I shoot film mainly because I like old cameras and the development/printing process in the darkroom. It gives me the look and feel I was looking for... Even though I shoot both digital and film, for me film has always felt much more real.
Shooting bw film is also really cheap if you develop it yourself and you can get professional analog gear for cheap.

Btw, you guys are partly responsible for my use of film. Since I've bought a M2 my film consumption has doubled! 😉

At my uni the student committee runs two labs and we do an introduction to bw film development/printing usually two to three times a term. The course is always fully booked and the labs are rented quite regularly. We also have quite a lot of people doing MF and maybe one or two LF.
 
David_Manning said:
Whatever the motivation, whatever their age...I'm glad people are getting interested in film who were previously only exposed to digital (oops...sorry about the pun). Maybe the next generation will realize the fundamental value of a good image, what it takes to make one, and maybe the pro photography business will rise from it's ashes.
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It almost sounds like you are saying that if you learned on a digital, you're not capable of good images...
 
jsrockit said:
I get that part. But ultimately being a bicycle messenger is a job... buying a piece of equipment associated with a job doesn't make you a poser necessarily. Plus, fixed gear bikes are not exclusive to bike messengers.

As for learning to ride the bike, you have to start somewhere... this would make everyone learning how to ride a bike a poser.
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Points taken. I have to say though that I think some of these kids don't want to go through the "uncool" phase of practicing in an empty lot until they get the hang of it.

Of course, I should give them the benefit of the doubt - maybe they are pushing their bike on the way to the empty lot to practice!

Randy
 
Field said:
In a way. The problem is so much has happened at such a fast rate that original ideas are difficult to come up with. You have to spend half your time searching to check if someone has already done whatever, if you want to do something original.

The constraint really is that society at large on a global level is pretty well unchanged. Things happen but how we view life has not really seen any radical changes lately. We have just kind of consolidated everything. The US being a "melting pot" has extensively "melted" everything together. China town might look different - because it makes money - but all the kids have their Ipods and skinny jeans anyway.

In order to create an original body of work you have to explore an idea rather, not just bringing something into existence that is not quiet the same as something else. That is a true challenge these days at the rate ideas have been shared and exercised with the Internet etc.
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So what you're saying has much less to do with photography and much more to do with the idea of how globalization has brought about a kind of epistemic closure; that the evolution of thought, insofar as photography is concerned anyways, has ended. Well now, it seems as if someone is having much less an artistic crisis and much more of an existential crisis.

Here's an idea: forget the "trendsters" and go take some photos.
 
'Kids' getting into film, great. I hope they buy millions of rolls so a: it still gets made and b: prices stabilise.
 
Here's some hope for flim lovers: I was in a CVS Pharmacy in Las Vegas a few days ago and not only were they well stocked on 35mm color print film, but they were selling Tri-X 400! I've not seen that at a drug store in years.
 
When I studied photojournalism we did everything on film for the first year, then we moved to a combination of film and digital. Most people stopped film altogether then but a few of us could still be found in the dark room.

A year after I left they dropped film completely and turned the darkroom into a coffee area. A real shame as it was a great setup, nice sinks, loads of enlargers, film dryer, print dryer etc...
 
NaChase said:
So what you're saying has much less to do with photography and much more to do with the idea of how globalization has brought about a kind of epistemic closure; that the evolution of thought, insofar as photography is concerned anyways, has ended. Well now, it seems as if someone is having much less an artistic crisis and much more of an existential crisis.

Here's an idea: forget the "trendsters" and go take some photos.
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Something like that. There are very non-existential crisis related issues within the though. One is people getting a job or ever being noticed for their work, if they want to pursue it. They few things that should go somewhere are as likely to sit idle because of the great flood of medium/lowocracy in the art field.

GSNfan, dangerous ground? I feel like the world is a bunch of pessimists. We do everything we can to ruin the earth and livelihood of everyone.

The doom is here, and it is acting fast.
 
mahleu said:
When I studied photojournalism we did everything on film for the first year, then we moved to a combination of film and digital. Most people stopped film altogether then but a few of us could still be found in the dark room.

A year after I left they dropped film completely and turned the darkroom into a coffee area. A real shame as it was a great setup, nice sinks, loads of enlargers, film dryer, print dryer etc...
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Cafenol? 😀
 
My local CVS stocks Tri-X and C41 B&W.

I've been giving away film cameras to some younger people expressing an interest in Film Photography. They are using them, and like them.
 
huntjump said:
Funny, I often read people complaining about everyone going digital and thinking they are the next big thing, not taking photography seriously. Then, when students/younger generation actually attempt to learn and try analogue, there seems to be a underlying cynicism/backlash, instantly discounting it to "trendy", "unoriginal" or "not taking it serious"

Not sure how one speaks for those they do not know, or complain about future generations who might actually keep something alive that YOU would benefit from, regardless of their intention. I agree with Keith, Paul and others who see it as a positive thing, regardless of their motives.
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+100 agree.
Too many cynicism towards young people going analogue.
 
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I am always happy anytime I run into anyone, young or old, who expresses an interest in film photography and/or darkrooms. I do my best to encourage it. It can't do anything but good to have more people shooting film.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
I've been giving away film cameras to some younger people expressing an interest in Film Photography. They are using them, and like them.
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That's really fabulous. I was given a Nikon F and a few lenses by my dad's friend. It belonged to his father and was only used a few times. The meter doesn't work, but I'm thinking about fixing it. That was really the camera that got me started in film photography and I'll never get rid of it.
 
zumbido said:
Total agreement here too. To too many of the silly, fetishistic old men here anything that anyone does differently from themselves is suspect. Especially when those "anyones" are under 30 and not obviously "manly" enough (which is truly peculiar coming from a bunch of geezers who sit around on the internet debating handbags, I mean, camera bags).
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are you trying to be rude on purpose?
 
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