Having to Explain the Beautiful Concept of Film Photography to Modern Kids

In today’s modern era, some photography enthusiasts might argue that smartphones and digital cameras have rendered film photography obsolete, but for those who remember the thrill of picking up developed photos at the camera store, of tearing into the envelope to see how in the world those carefully-crafted shots turned out, film photography is anything but outdated—it’s timeless.

This short video by BuzzFeedYellow attempts to explain the beauty and allure of film photography to tech savvy youngsters who have probably never taken a picture without the instant gratification of a review screen and a delete button:

Film photography transports us back to a time when the world moved a little slower and we all paid a little bit more attention. It requires us to understand the more technical aspects of photography, certainly, but it also causes us to carefully consider the content and composition of each shot before clicking the shutter—because it has to be solid the first time or the moment is lost.

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“Sometimes you’d find an envelope of photos from a summer long ago in the bottom of a shoebox and it was like finding a time capsule,” said BuzzFeedYellow.

There’s just something about holding a printed photograph in your hands and remembering that moment—the one that was important enough to merit using up one of the 24 or 36 shots on that particular roll of film. There’s something about not knowing what the shot will look like until you pull it from the stack—feeling giddily satisfied if you nailed it, or feeling sharply disappointed if you dropped the ball, motivated to do better next time.

develop digital cat agfa fuji

Film images are often distinguished from digital images by their particularly “dreamy” look.

Simply put, digital photography is spectacular; it has forever changed the craft and will continue to propel photographers to greater and greater heights—but film photography shouldn’t be discounted as a genre because it doesn’t offer instant gratification.

Waiting fills us with wonder.

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