WHAT GOT ME STARTED?

OMO! If only I knew how accessible Film Photography is nowadays, I would have started sooner. I’m usually the one to document every trip and meet. I capture anything that amuses me, attention-worthy or not. I’m the sentimental type, the i’ll-keep-this-leaf-i-found-on-the-ground-to-commemorate-this-moment kind of person. Unfortunately, to avoid losing those mementos I need a more convenient type of reminder: Photographs!

So, to answer the question: I was always fascinated by capturing moments, but somehow the instant gratification our digital world offers made me lose interest in it. I want my photographs to be something I really value so I want to put on work. In turn, I engaged in journaling– sketching those moments as to how I remember them in my mind and telling each story in writing.

But one issue I find in journaling to my collecting mementos is it doesn’t really capture the moment. A lot of the moments were already lost. I need something that works like an eye: a camera. Thankfully enough, I met my two wonderful friends who are into film photography and shared with me their experience. Just days after, I found myself so immersed in the art that I can’t help but to want to learn about it everyday up to today.

HOW was my experience?

Started with disposable cameras before I bought my first ever LEGIT film camera: Konica C35 EF. What got my attention aside from it’s aesthetics is Andy Warhol. It’s Andy Warhol’s favorite camera, albeit it adds to the hype, I got mine for a very reasonable price. I want to blabber more about Andy Warhol as I am a fan of pop art, but for the sake of you not getting bored, let’s get into it.

Just the idea of forgetting what you captured, and the pain and excitement of anticipation, for me, is an art. You have no idea how romantic it is in my head (lol!). I even got one for my friend because I want to enjoy it together.

• It gave me something to look forward. This pandemic really took a toll on me, prisoned in four corners of my room desperately looking for something new, for any stimulus. Lifeless, ugh.
• Makes you more forgiving. You know when you’re unsure with your shot but you only have 24-36 exposures to waste. You’ll never know if it will turn out the way you expect it to be (for a while), and you just let it be. To hell with the result! This is how I took it this day, this hour, this minute, in this very place… It’s still memorable and significant. (cross fingers… hoping it’s not a blank shot).

• It’s expensive. In every shot, I hear coins dropping… I feel my wallet getting lighter and lighter until it sways up in the air like a blown feather. (stay broke, shoot film)
• It’s a purposeful hobby. I find it meaningful and enjoyable. It makes you determined to improve. It provides a unique opportunity to express yourself and your mind. All photography subjects are taken, but what makes your photo unique is how you see and interpret it. We can be similar in what we see but we differ in how we see.

We can be similar in what we see, but we differ in how we see.

• It makes you wait. It makes you work. In this new normal world where we can get everything in a snap of a finger, it makes you wait in anticipation. You don’t get to see what you’ve taken right when you have taken them. In this age of consumerism and fast accumulation, it makes you observe first and consider the worth (shoot less, think more!). In a world that rushes you to be something you’re not yet, it makes you stay still, think, and process carefully before you click the shutter. It’s not the same with digital photography, where you can delete mistakes and learn. It makes you wait, again, just to find out you had it wrong. Lastly, It makes you care for something that holds a memory… like your sensitive film rolls (which says a lot about how we should be showing the people we shared the memories with more value).

In a world that rushes you to be something you’re not yet, it makes you stay still, think, and process carefully before you click the shutter.

• But it’s rewarding. After looking at my scans, both the unexpectedly good and expectedly bad photos motivate me to keep going. It’s worth it. This hobby is for keeps. It memorializes your moments and gives you room for growth. It helps me showcase my creativity every time I remedy poorly taken photos with doodle art.

Film photography, for me (as a newbie), more than bringing me back to experience the art of waiting, it’s a rewarding tool to solidify my personal memorable experience while limiting me from taking those solidified experience for granted, if nothing else, even adds value to it.

Salamat sa pagbasa.