Film

It was about 1998 / 2000 that camera manufacturers brought us the dawn of digital photography and the decline of film photographers. Rumors spread that film was dead. Although the majority of professionals have made the transition from film to digital, film remains an extremely popular format, which we can all still learn from. The preference of film or digital will always come down to the individual photographer. I offer film services because it is unique, traditional and has a romance that goes with it. The images displayed here are not broken down into any specific order or category as in landscape, studio, wildlife etc, it is a complete mix for all to enjoy.

So why film you may ask? There is a certain beauty about film, the latitude is nice to have, to shoot someone in the shadows and to have a lot of interesting subtle detail there, or in front of a very bright light source and have all the highlight and shadow detail recoverable. Not forgetting to mention, that grain is beautiful and noise is ugly. Film is so well designed from the beginning for flattering skin tones, so shooting portraiture is very accurate.

I spent valuable time at the school of trial and error in the early days when digital did not exist, this was the best foundation in photography for me. Every frame must count, no checking the back of the camera to see if its right or wrong; it had to be right! Film slows one down to think about what you doing, to compose properly and to get the results you looking for, particularly when it comes to landscapes.

The way I see the world is best conveyed through the lens of either my 35mm format and 120 /medium format film TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) camera or my digital cameras. The extreme clarity of this traditional medium allows me to capture every minute detail in the scene just the way it was.  The rich colors and tones of film allow me to express my vision powerfully, while the uncomplicated simplistic way of taking the shot without having to read a thick technical manual of the modern digital camera, allows me to be old school again. You have to think out of the box and apply all your theory that you have learned. Using the mountains, valleys, desert, seaside and people as my classroom, I am constantly drawing from experience and applying everything I know about photography to achieve these results. One also needs to understand how certain films respond best under different lighting conditions to get the most out your shots; there is no back of the camera previews, it has to be right first time, everytime! After many years of photography, I finally made the effort to learn to process and print all of my photographs traditionally in a darkroom. It is truly an amazing thing to see your images come to life right before your eyes on paper!

Through this wonderful medium of film, I invite you to join me on my journeys and see the natural world and life in all its forms through my eyes, as I have captured it on film. I shoot both 35mm and 120 / medium format film, and large format in 4×5″, 4×10″, 5×7″ & 8×10″.

For 35mm I use either a Nikon F90x, Nikon F5 or Nikon F6. In Medium Format, it is a combination of a dedicated camera or a roll film back for large format – 4×4 – Baby Rolleiflex, Yashica 44; 6x6cm – a 1957 Yashica-Mat TLR; 645 – Pentax 645n & Mamiya 645 1000S; 6×7 – Pentax 6×7 and roll film back, 6×8 – roll film back, 6×9 – roll film back, 6×12 – roll film back, 6×17 – roll film back and a Linhof 6×17.

Film is still very much alive in the digital era!

Click on the images below to view the enlarged images in various film size formats.

All my images are available for purchase as prints. Digital images can be used under license agreement. Film images are not clinical and as perfect as digital, imperfections can and should be expected from this medium. Should you wish to purchase or license my images, please click here for more information, so I can assist you with your needs.