Is Film Photography Pretentious?

Indie music, craft beer, band tees, and so on. There are a number of common threads that seem to run through the strange mix of people that are now shooting film. What do all of these things have in common. For a start, they could all be considered pretentious.

To be pretentious is, "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed."

For many, there can be no question that film photography probably is a pretentious endeavor. However, I think instead of being a negative, pejorative word, being pretentious is actually OK. I talk little about the Dan Fox book, "Pretentiousness And Why It Matters." His idea that being pretentious is largely aspirational.

Whether you are shooting 35mm, 120 medium format, or large format - shooting analog is a little pretentious - and that's OK.

Get Dan's book here:

Get your film here, and support my channel!

#FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography

[Overexposed]

Because many won’t watch to the end, the point of the video is that even if film is pretentious, that’s okay - because being pretentious is okay.

[BillLovesFilm]

I’m a Gen X-er. My love for film goes back to my twenties when high-end medium format and 35mm gear was coveted and waaay out of reach for me or almost anyone who wasn’t using it to make a living.

I got back into film around 2014 when I noticed that Hasselblad and even Leica were selling for peanuts (yes peanuts in 2014) and at this life stage were suddenly very affordable. My enjoyment, pride of ownership and sheer joy I experience using these tools I could only dream about previously—it’s a dream come true.

Not caring what other people think is one of the true human superpowers.

[JPWineberg]

This is so interesting! I'm 57 and started shooting film in the 70's. I love that film photography is making a comeback. This allows me to return to what I love. Am I pretentious by dusting off my old film cameras, lenses and knowledge? I even went a step further and bought an M6 two years ago. I love the new resources out there. I love that there is a new generation carrying on old methods. I can still shoot TriX and load my old Nikon FE2 and my new M6 with 36 exposures!

[goatman]

I shoot film not because I’m good at it, but because im addicted to it. I simply love using old, mechanical devices and I love the resulting imperfect photos!

[paulmakesvideos]

First, the last minute of your video nailed it. Nice job. 

All I'd add is that I'm 61 and I've been shooting film since the early 70's. My cabinet is filled with old 35mm Nikons & Canons, in addition to old Mamiyas and movie cameras. I also have a modern mirrorless digital that I also enjoy. It took me too long to learn not to care what anyone thinks of my creative process. What speaks to you as a creative person? Not a "creative" looking for clicks. But, as a creative human with the heart of an artist. If it's charcoal and paper, oils and canvas, or grand dad's old Kodak, you do you. Give no f***ks to anyone's opinion about how your creativity manifests itself. Pretentiousness is a problem for the beholder. No artist needs own that.

[lisajoseph]

I'm 65: Film was all we had for more of my life than digital. In a weird fit of nostalgia I hunted down the model of camera my mother first put in my hands, a pesky Kodak Duaflex that required a fair amount of hacking to get it to play nice with 120 film. Since then I acquired a nice little Yashica rangefinder, a friend recently gifted me with a beautiful Ansco folder that's just an Agfa Isolette made for the export market, and about a week ago I adopted a 1920s folding Kodak in unbelievably good condition. This morning I went out with my DSLR, the Kodak No.2 Folding Cartridge Hawkeye Model C - how's THAT for a mouthful - and the Yashica up to Point Reyes. I used the DSLR for wildlife and shot landscapes with the two film cameras.

Why? Because (a) the Kodak needed a proper field test, (b) switching between three very different cameras is an excellent challenge in mindfulness, and (c) because it's FUN. The tactile feedback from these older cameras just feels good, you know?

Thanks for the content. You are welcome to my lifetime allotment of IPA. It's just not my thing. ;)

[fire_on_the_mountain]

You had me, and then you (admittedly) lost me, but I'm glad I stuck with it because you really had me by the end. Well done!

[confrontingphotography]

I think there is a generational difference at work here. You speak of “Curating an aesthetic” I understand that to be a fairly new way of thinking. Yes, There have always been movements, styles, tastes but in the past these things often grew out of groups of people who lived in physical proximity to one another, there is a kind of molding that friends and colleagues do to each other that only comes from daily contact and actual interactions.

Hipster culture seems to be an early example of a sub group that arises from the internet and lacks the kind of slow moving influence that friends exert upon each other. Also, your understanding of film as a hipster, nostalgic hobby certainly arises from how young you are and from when you started shooting film. (I think that description is correct, it’s just not universal.)

For me, I was in graduate film school when the switch from film to digital started to gain momentum, myself and many others loathed the look and feel of early digital and were outraged that we were being asked to trade in the textures, the look, the emotions, the craft of the cinema for tools that made everything look like flat, lifeless shit. It was devastating, and we hated it, so we kept shooting film even though it was more expensive and difficult because it was what we knew, it was the tool we understood and believed in. We didn’t feel we could shoot digital because it lacked emotional credibility with us and with audiences. So for me and many of my peers we didn’t feel we had a choice.

There is more to say but I’ll just end with the fact that I wear a Marmot fleece almost every day and in the majority of my videos, but I also live in the mountains.

[imxg]

photography is art. as the artist, choose the tools required to fulfill your vision the best. if that is film, for reasons of the process, the tones, whatever really, that is not pretentious at all.

I would also argue that digital trickery like filters hardly gets us close or even better results to film. get me a filter or something that truly looks like velvia 50, seriously, I'd be thankful! I tried getting the RVP look digitally for ages but eventually gave up and just bought the real thing as I deemed all editing unsatisfying...

[MrVash]

As a 36 year old who started out on a point and shoot film camera. I enjoy film because the threshold has already been met, there’s no bigger and better camera comings out year after year like there is with digital. it’s exhausting. And I really love the look of film and the entire process from start to finish.

[matthewparriott]

I've gotten back into shooting film in the last two years, and I've really appreciated the process and the anticipation. The process of slowing down, being intentional, the muscle memory of memorizing F-stops and shutter speeds and manual focus and then the anticipation of getting my scans back a couple weeks after dropping a few rolls off. I also have small children which keeps me from shooting all the typical hipster subject matter 😂

[phil_aesthetics]

I am learning something new with film photography and it's been changing the way I shoot digital and how I edit my pictures. I think everyone should learn film at some point. I did back in college so now I am just doing a return to it.

[themike_]

there is a certain level of impracticality to deep diving any hobby. people who deep dive coffee can spend thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) on grinders, beans, espresso machines, etc to pull the perfect shot. we film people are somewhat the same, spending thousands of dollars on cameras, lenses, sometimes even making our own darkrooms and refining development processes. I think the thing that is most important is to support others in the pursuit of their hobbies. Digital photography is a lot more practical and cost effective and its not useful to criticize a hobbyist for shooting digital just because we think film is better. I think thats where a lot of the pretentious stigma comes from.

[bisaillion]

"How many of those film photographers are wearing beanies or band t's?"
* looks down. looks up. hits like *

I feel attacked personally, but also seen lol

[Thomas_Dries]

Photography is photography. If you’re making images that’s all that matters. I personally prefer to make my images on my large format camera and I don’t think my choice of camera makes me any better or any less than other photographers.

[digicalanalogital-fzjp]

I've only recently gotten into film after 2 decades of pure digital. Still use digital for wildlife and wouldn't think of attempting that on film. The reason I got into film was two fold, one, simply wanted to give it a try and make life more difficult for myself because apparently I'm a masochist, second, and most important, I realised my digital shots of my kid were simply going into a hard drive or phone, thousands of shots being ignored and just sitting there, never to be looked at again. That made me remember my old albums from when I was a kid, how you look at those photos and they bring a memory and a conversation about that holiday, that birthday, that Xmas. . . . I simply wanted my kid to have that when she grows up. To reach for the albums and have a tactile experience instead of projecting them on her holographic tablet or whatever the technology will be in 20 years. Don't get me wrong, film photography doesnt make any practical sense, but again, few hobbies do IMO, I don't think photography is either/or between digital and film. I very much enjoy both but from completely different perspectives. To me film captures memories, while digital captures facts and reality. Each to their own I suppose. Now Kodak please chill out with the prices my dude!

[tobinsphotovideo]

I shoot film because I have a 4K equivalent hard copy of the photo or movie that will outlive me by 100 years plus. The other reasons are bonuses.

[akseljohnson]

I shoot film because it’s a much more satisfying and meaningful experience and best of all it’s real. It can’t vanish when my phone breaks or my memory gets corrupted.

[henryrogan]

I drink my coffee black and prefer film to digital. Digital has it's advantages, but it has one major Achilles' heel. It is technology dependent. What will technology be 20 years hence? Will your digital photos suffer the same fate as 8 track tapes and VCRs ? Film, in particular black and white photographs can last for 100 years or more. I will soon be traveling to the Philippines and will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to photograph 4 generations in one picture. I want my grand daughter to be able to show her grand daughter those that came before her. You can bet I will be shooting black and white film. Because you know what? digital would be irresponsible.

[moe]

for me it's less about aesthetic, and more about wanting an escape from the digital world. It's often overwhelming, and increasingly impossible to tell if a photo is real, AI generated, or somewhere in between and film is something of an antidote to that. I don't do it to share it online, I do it to ground myself with something I (silly or not) view as "real".