Old School
I love the look of Black&White Photography. My work is all digital process nowadays but the magic of developing and printing from film was enchanting. I don't miss the chemicals, fixer stains and the smell of my fingers, the days spent in dark rooms with grain magnifiers that fried my eyesight and all that time and money spent on film, chemistry and paper. It took me 3 hours to roll my first 35 mm into the holder, in the dark, sweating my ass off. All those 4X5 negative holders strung everywhere, eventually I would learn how to organize my tools for all the times I double exposed or got light leaks in the corners. I learned to know where things are in the dark though...
I'm reminded how I learned to own the entire process from exposure to presentation and although the process is different with digital tools it is still the same for me in the sense of control. I gave up film forever in a single second after fighting and denying the reality of digital photography overtaking the industry. I had spent 4 years learning the science of traditional photography and then a year after graduation my knowledge was obsolete in the world of commercial photography. I was the last class to graduate my photography school being taught traditional photography 2002. Traditional Photography is now a medium of fine art.
The revelation came to me early in the morning on a secluded beach on the island of Hawaii in 2003, at Kiholo. I had about 100+ rolls of undeveloped film (medium format and 35mm, BW, InfraRed, Slide) and was losing track of work in SE Asia, Hawaii and a few other places. I didn't have access to professional labs in the places I was traveling, shipping away my film for others to develop was timely and expensive. I did not want to develop on the island because of the chemicals involved and I hated surrendering my process to others. I wanted to maintain control over my product.
My boyfriend had bought a DSLR and I borrowed it to take some long exposures of the ocean at Kiholo early in the morning. It was better than a polaroid, saving me time in bracketing and within an hour I was able to edit that AM session on my laptop and email the images off. He never got the DSLR back... 10 years later I'm able to duplicate the looks of some of my favorite films with filters. I barely ever use them, but it's nice to know if I want to see how an image looks if I shot it with Agfa50 or Ilford400 or Velvia or Portra etc.
I feel very lucky to have learned photography when I did. The digital age has made it really easy to learn photography nowadays (and way cheaper) though I wonder if the ranks of professional photographers would be way thinner if they had to do it old school.
Love&Lifestyle Photographer Heather Ransley lives on Kauai and owns Kauai Bliss Photography, based in Koloa Hawaii, on the south shore of Kauai. Kauai photographer Heather Ransley specializes in Kauai portrait and family photography, Kauai wedding photography, Kauai Fine Art Photography and lifestyle photography. Please visit kauaiblissphoto.com to see more Kauai photography, Aloha!
I'm reminded how I learned to own the entire process from exposure to presentation and although the process is different with digital tools it is still the same for me in the sense of control. I gave up film forever in a single second after fighting and denying the reality of digital photography overtaking the industry. I had spent 4 years learning the science of traditional photography and then a year after graduation my knowledge was obsolete in the world of commercial photography. I was the last class to graduate my photography school being taught traditional photography 2002. Traditional Photography is now a medium of fine art.
The revelation came to me early in the morning on a secluded beach on the island of Hawaii in 2003, at Kiholo. I had about 100+ rolls of undeveloped film (medium format and 35mm, BW, InfraRed, Slide) and was losing track of work in SE Asia, Hawaii and a few other places. I didn't have access to professional labs in the places I was traveling, shipping away my film for others to develop was timely and expensive. I did not want to develop on the island because of the chemicals involved and I hated surrendering my process to others. I wanted to maintain control over my product.
My boyfriend had bought a DSLR and I borrowed it to take some long exposures of the ocean at Kiholo early in the morning. It was better than a polaroid, saving me time in bracketing and within an hour I was able to edit that AM session on my laptop and email the images off. He never got the DSLR back... 10 years later I'm able to duplicate the looks of some of my favorite films with filters. I barely ever use them, but it's nice to know if I want to see how an image looks if I shot it with Agfa50 or Ilford400 or Velvia or Portra etc.
I feel very lucky to have learned photography when I did. The digital age has made it really easy to learn photography nowadays (and way cheaper) though I wonder if the ranks of professional photographers would be way thinner if they had to do it old school.
Love&Lifestyle Photographer Heather Ransley lives on Kauai and owns Kauai Bliss Photography, based in Koloa Hawaii, on the south shore of Kauai. Kauai photographer Heather Ransley specializes in Kauai portrait and family photography, Kauai wedding photography, Kauai Fine Art Photography and lifestyle photography. Please visit kauaiblissphoto.com to see more Kauai photography, Aloha!
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