Maybe it’s not even about taking pictures, with film there is nothing else you can do, especially using a simple camera like the Olympus trip 35, there are no focus to fuss with, no exposure settings to worry about, no lens to should have packed. Just point and shoot.
It’s freeing, not knowing. It doesn’t matter. Who cares anyway? In our minds it was and will always be fantastic. It’s a moment we enjoyed enough to think to put on film. No need to fuss about, perfecting every little detail. No worries.
It’s not what film gives you, it’s what it takes away that truly makes it quite unique in this day and age. with everything offering more and more, film takes away just about everything except for the ability to take pictures you can’t even see right away. It is truly a different experience.
What was most important to me was the freedom from the limitation of film. There is nothing else you can do other than make photographs with film cameras, limitation is the very best thing about it. You can’t take videos so you don’t even think about it. No panorama mode, no selfie mode, and none of those fake film simulation stuff because you got the real deal.
I also feel with shooting my 5 dollar value village film camera I have a less of a “omg this is serious” kind of mentality. Maybe because I can’t and don’t control everything with the camera so it provides me with some excuses if the shot didn’t turn out well. With that comes with the freedom to do many things, take photos of things I normally wouldn’t. The best part is when I see the film it’s all a surprise for me.
It is so much fun to shoot film, the freedom provided by the nature of film, that surprise when the film is developed, makes it a fun and enjoyable experience. Of course I’m not ditching my digital camera for a film one but I am carrying both everywhere I go. Try a roll, you will get hooked.
Covert Zebra 