The first meeting of the season is always a wonderful blend of excitement to meet up again with friends, getting to meet the new members and introducing the new calendar so we all get to look forward to trying new genres and techniques to add to our own portfolios.
Our opening speaker stepped up to the challenge by tackling a subject that many of us have either been intrigued by or was our introduction to photography, that is analogue photography.
It's no secret the most of us have at some stage either though about taking up film or thought about switching back to it, but with the massive infrastructure that was once in place, everyone knew how to get pictures out of their camera, you took it to the photo lab of course. Now most photographers, couldn't tell you where their nearest development lab is or even if they do it on site or ship it to a lab elsewhere. Many of the usual places have gone digital only, offering a massive range of services, but only if it fits through a wire.
Analogue or film photography wasn't solely in the realm of photography enthusiasts and artists, it was for everyone who wanted to capture a moment.
Now with the introduction of digital cameras and lower running costs for digital imaging, it has shifted towards a nich market and one that often lives with a foot in each camp enjoying the convenience of digital when needed, but also living positively with the deliberate capture of a single negative.
Our own club member Lucas, along with the assistance of Edgar and Bobby, gave us a overview of what was needed to start with film photography, where to get it and how they where introduced to photography through film. For some it was the cutting edge of technology with Mercury flashes, perhaps better described as a fingerprint removing incendiary device, while for others film came later as a way of focussing their mind.
In a short video one photographer spoke about the resurgence in film photography coming not from the expected demographic of digital immigrants (people who started before a digital era) but instead being led by Digital Natives, who for most had no introduction to film photography and many who had never held a film camera before so it was only ever a tool for artistic expression.
Lucas further dispelled the myth that film was gone by popping open one of those oh so familiar canisters and with the assistance of Ann who stepped up to be our in house Debbie Magee loaded the canister into a camera she had never seen before. I guess it is just like riding a bike, you never forget.
While some of the other members discussed their film origins, Lucas captured some of the members using the camera that we had just loaded up.
It was then time to kick the final obstruction aside and just go ahead and develop it, you know, there and then, on the spot. It's not like there was any pressure with 20 eager faces looking at you.
So after loading the negative roll into the reels and putting it into development tank, it was time for his lovely assistant Ann once again.
Together they took the film through each of the chemical stages of the development process. First by adding the developer mix and agitating it for the correct amount of time, then stopping the chemical reaction and finally rinsing it with deionised water to clean the negative.
The finished result was a fully developed negative with all our lovely faces on it.
As we each in turn had a look at the finished article, excited to see if our own picture had came out well, it brought about those nostalgic memories of opening that package and lifting out the tiny bundle of 6x4 images to see what they looked like.
Did you get that special moment, did you hold the camera steady while trying that planning shot.
In a day and age where cameras are capable of 40 frames a second, it seems inconceivable that we used to wait a week for half that number before we knew if we had a single decent image, but is it better now. Are we taking better photographs or are we just taking more.
Maybe we all need to slow down a bit from time to time, capture a single moment and develop from it.
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