Film is a dead medium.
Film is not dead, just a less popular medium.
Sounds like the start of a
Monty Python sketch.One interesting thing about the times in which we live, is that we can time travel. We can buy old clothes, old cars, old cameras, old furniture, old electronics ... and we can also buy many new things that have a retro look.
Everything old is new again. And again. And again.
Using an old photographic technique could be about nostalgia, it could be about someone wanting to experience another point of view, or it could be about someone wanting to keep up with Internet fads.
As analogue photo techniques progressed, they were always about being better, more real, more perfect. When digital photography delivered perfection, folks complained about the too-real look and software companies delivered software that recreated imperfection.
So which is it? Do you want your photos to look exactly like real life or do you want them to look like an imperfect version of real life?
If you really wanted an imperfect recreation of life, you'd be a painter not a photographer
But it's been said that a photographer is a painter in a hurry.
It's not about old photo techniques versus new technology. The photographic technology used, new or old, is a red herring. Nothing is being "revived" because nothing really died (it's just pining for the fjords
).
Here's the deal:
People (and that includes photographers) have an innate desire to be "hands on." Humans are emotional and emotion can be expressed through touch. This is why folks have hobbies like gardening, painting, sculpting, woodworking, baking, working in a darkroom, playing a musical instrument, etc. Most people want to be creative and work with their hands.
This is why we're photographers.
Typing at a computer keyboard, shuffling paper and sitting at a desk are, and always will be, hugely disappointing and spirit killing in the long run. This is why some companies like Google try to build fun, creative atmospheres in their offices by installing pool tables, mini-putt golf courses, small music recording studios, pinball and video arcade games. This is to relieve the mind-numbing boredom of today's (work) life.
Technology is/was supposed to create endless leisure time for us. But life isn't about being leisurely, it's about
being busy and being creative. Creativity keeps the
mind young:
...using data on more than 1,000 older men collected between 1990 and 2008. The researchers found that only creativity — not intelligence or overall openness — decreased mortality risk. One possible reason creativity is protective of health is because it draws on a variety of neural networks within the brain...
And being creative isn't just cerebral, it's also physical.
The look of old photography processes can be replicated with software. But using an old process is about being hands on with the process. If you had to mix the pigment for your inkjet printer, I bet more folks would love the "inkjet process". If you had to sprinkle magic pixels on your sensor and then load it into your camera, more folks would love the "digital process". But digital photography basically involves using your digits to push buttons. No need to roll up your sleeves or put on an apron.
As for a comeback, "old photography" never left. What disappeared or changed was customers' expectations and experiences with photography. What disappeared or changed was photographers' approach to, and the use of, (digital) photography.
Everyone owns a camera or two. Pictures are so ubiquitous, they're almost invisible. Pictures aren't special like they were decades ago. Getting your picture "taken" isn't a big deal; if anything, it's a chore or a nuisance. Finished photos are now kept mostly on electronic devices rather than on paper – the original touch screen.
Photographers treat digital cameras like machines, disposal machines you replace every few years. Film cameras were tools that you got to know over a decade or so. Photographers have little relationship with their digital cameras. Many a photographer will speak glowingly of their F3, FM, F1 or A1. I've yet to hear the same of a D2Xs or 5D Mk I.
Film cameras came in all sorts of sizes, shapes and materials. Digital camera manufacturers have tried to emulate this with retro-looking cameras and cameras with wood inserts but looks aren't the point. The point is involvement with the overall process. As technology advances, people get pushed further away from the process, and it's not just with photography.
Instead of thinking that using an old photo process will automatically bring back the joy, the satisfaction and the creativity of photography, examine how you use digital photography and I don't mean the technical aspects of the digital process. Look at the photography, not the digital.
Simple test: When you shoot a posed portrait, watch how the customer reacts when you use a tripod versus no tripod. Notice how they behave when you use a hotshoe flash versus full-on studio lights. It's not the technique or the specific tools, it's the experience for both customer and photographer. If you make it a big deal, it will be a big deal. You don't need old tools to get new satisfaction.
Self-employed photographers take note of this! It's the experience that counts, it's the experience that customers pay for. Return to the past and make (your) photography a big deal, a unique creative process. Photography is not a workflow!
Spot quiz: If everything old is new again, will there be a revival of printed newspapers?