Alligator Tail Revisited
September 13, 2007
A second look at film, with film.
…continued from “Alligator Tail”
I probably look at hundreds of images daily, as a photographer and a photo enthusiast it’s a pleasurable job requirement. Some are found in printed materials, some are found on the net. Some via personal portfolios, some via photography communities like Flickr. Some amateur, some professional. Some good, some great, others deeply intriguing.
I get hung up on images that are difficult to comprehend. Compositions and subject matter are most often focus points, but also photos that challenge me with visual subtitles my work doesn’t have. Qualities that transcend exposure and clarity. Recently, I’ve found many of these images turn out to be made with film. Not even the digital conversion of these to be viewed on the web can take away their inherit distinctions of color, texture and grain. These photos proved to be really inspiring, so I went excavating.
I found my old N70 buried in my closet, with a half roll of film inside. An embarrassingly perfect illustration of my haste to discard the film media. Although outside of my digital comfort zone, using it again was refreshing. The viewfinder was inviting, bigger and brighter than I remembered. The shutter was loud and confident. I got to use my 50 prime at it's true focal length again.
Returning to film servers as inspiration to me and my photography. Reminding yourself what film can do helps motivate creativity when you jump back into your digital workflow. It helps you to reevaluate your digital colors, textures and grain. Like any craft, looking outside your normal set of tools will inspire using those tools in new, more innovative ways. That’s what I’ve found film does for me, and that’s why it’s no longer dead to me.
So here’s another look at “Alligator Tail”. This time, with a whole lot less megapixels…none.