Through the Lens: Film Photography Explored

I was interviewed by Flickr.com and asked to give advice to new photographers along with a Q&A about myself.

Carter Brown is a longtime Flickr member and has a separate account exclusively for his film photography, which you can visit here. He’s the founder and admin of a film focused Flickr group called Analogue Photography. His group boasts over 25.5K members who have shared well over 1.5M photos since its inception. With such a love of film photography clearly fueling his work, we had a great opportunity to ask Carter some questions about shooting with film. 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out with film photography?

If you’re just getting started, you’ll find there are many choices and price ranges when it comes to film cameras. I suggest beginning with an inexpensive and common brand to start your journey. There are also various types of film stock: black and white, color, and different brands. Try a few to discover which ones you enjoy using the most.

Familiarize yourself with your camera. Begin learning how to use the manual settings. You can always choose a camera with both automatic and manual settings to avoid feeling overwhelmed with your first roll. However, learning to use the manual settings will help you become a better photographer as you understand the relationship between f-stops and shutter speed.

Mistakes will happen, but don’t be discouraged. Each mistake is a learning opportunity on your path to becoming a better photographer.

Do you develop your own film, or do you send it to a lab? 

I decided that if I was going to shoot film, I was also determined to learn how to develop it on my own. Since returning to the film medium, I have self-developed and scanned everything. Many photographers will tell you they do this to save money or have greater creative control, but honestly, I just wanted to know how to do it and be able to work on my own schedule. Did you know you can even develop film in coffee? Yes, coffee! Visit the Caffenol group on Flickr to learn more.

I’m not against sending film to a lab. Developing your own film does add another learning curve to your journey, but when you’ve photographed, developed, scanned – basically touched your photo every step of the way – it is far more satisfying when the perfect shot emerges.

If you with to follow me on Flickr

I currently run two accounts. One is strictly for my film photography and can be found here: Legacy Lens Photography

The other is for both my digital and film photography and is found under: Accidental Nomad

If you would like to read this article directly on Flickr’s page, you can read it here: Through the Lens