Photographers have long debated whether film or digital is better. It’s very well agreed these days that the two can easily coexist. More importantly, if someone doesn’t know any better, they’d think that they’re looking at film when looking at a digital photo. With the right processes in the darkroom and scanning, film photographs can look film digital too. But this post isn’t about gear talk. Instead, it’s about philosophy, thought processes, skill, intuition, and understanding of the self. The truth is that if you’re only a digital photographer, there’s a chance that you’re really not all that good.
I recently watched Walkie Talkie on YouTube, where Paulie speaks to Daniel Arnold. In this video, Daniel says one of the most beautiful quotes I’ve ever heard that goes along the lines of:
“Film is a conversation with failure and digital is a conversation with success.”
Something sort of along the lines of what Daniel Arnold said
This is one of the most honest and pure statements I’ve heard about the medium. It isn’t about megapixels, details, skin tones, or anything technical. Instead, it’s more about the approach. With digital photography, we tend to overshoot because it’s so cheap. But with film, the process is more expensive, less exacting, and much riskier. Often, we shoot one frame a second and then advance the film unless the camera has an automatic advancement setting. Indeed, when shooting film, there is far more risk of failure. And we become better through failure, evaluation of the moment, and careful contemplation.
I’m defining better by being more in touch with getting the image the first time around with little to no need for Photoshop or editing and adjustment later on. These are the skills that only a photographer can have. A photo editor can often shoot a lot of images and then edit later on to get what they want. But a photographer needs to be able to do everything in-camera and understand various nuances about the scene in front of them to get the shot. When you shoot film, you’re far more honest with yourself — and becoming better starts with being more honest in the first place.
In this article, I am not saying film is good and digital is bad. I’m also not saying that digital is good and film is bad. Instead, I’m saying that you, as a photographer, can become far better by acknowledging your failures and realizing that you can’t save yourself later on by getting the shot in a single frame. Many photographers say that they can do everything in the darkroom that Photoshop can, but the difference is that they’re not doing it. They’re probably not even printing in the darkroom and then scanning the print.
Digital photographers often have a conversation with success that’s centered far more around content creation. Film photographers don’t necessarily do the same. They strive to create art, which stands the test of time far more than content creation does.
In the real debate of film vs digital, I think that we need to learn the balance between failure and success. We truly need to realize that to succeed, we need to improve by thinking at a higher level instead of relying on post-production as a crutch.