Kodak, again

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Originally Posted by jeffreyg

Most people are interested in convenience and instantly getting results. With digital cameras they don't even have to think most of the time the cameras do it for them even knowing when a person blinks or doesn't smile. [...]

For those of us who still appreciate film and printing it will probably still exist. [...]

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Ain't that the truth. Another thing, too, is that whenever I have film cameras out and I try to shoot pictures of my friends or family while we're hanging out or at a family event, they never really take the time or have the patience to let me burn through a roll of film! Yesterday, I got back a gorgeous developed roll of Velvia 50 I took at my cousin's university graduation last month and I have to say that it's one of the best rolls I've shot so far (there were a couple of really nice digital pics I took that day, though). All I need now is a nice slide projector (hopefully a carousel one) to show my slides the way they were meant to be shown! (I have yet to test my Super 8 projector that I found in mint condition).

I shoot film mainly for one reason: archivability. Second reason: I love holding the negatives and slides in my hands and knowing that every exposure I shoot is a labor of love. But it's hard fighting the "GO GO!" fast digital habits. One time I ruined the last few exposures on a roll of Tri-X because I got too ahead of myself and opened the camera before rewinding. Third and final reason: I feel like I have more control over my picture with the simplicity of operating a film camera. I have honed my instinct on controlling things like bokeh and things like that with my film camera. I don't have to fool with any internal settings while the action's happening. I mainly use digital indoors and in low light. Outside, in the light, film is my number one choice.

It seems now that many "consume" and go through pictures like it's popcorn or a race to the finish line to look at all the pictures. People seem to react positively to having prints around, though. I have a ton of prints that I have pinned up in my cubicle and people always comment on them. Looking at them on a computer screen is okay for me, but once in a blue moon it seems way too impersonal for me.

There does seem to be a shift to having things in hardcopy though. A lot of photographers, graphic artists etc etc etc seem to have ipads and the like with their folios on them. This is a good idea at times, but people absolutely do like seeing things in hardcopy (eg. a real print regardless of the medium). From people I cross paths with from time to time in various fields, I am told that there is a slow shift back to actual visual art in hardcopy form. I personally think that is true also, if it is then that it is fantastic. There is nothing like seeing a nice folio with 8x10 prints for instance and absolutely nothing like looking at beautiful prints hung on a wall in a real life frame!

I guess we will see what the future holds.

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Originally Posted by Danielle

There does seem to be a shift to having things in hardcopy though. A lot of photographers, graphic artists etc etc etc seem to have ipads and the like with their folios on them. This is a good idea at times, but people absolutely do like seeing things in hardcopy (eg. a real print regardless of the medium). From people I cross paths with from time to time in various fields, I am told that there is a slow shift back to actual visual art in hardcopy form. I personally think that is true also, if it is then that it is fantastic. There is nothing like seeing a nice folio with 8x10 prints for instance and absolutely nothing like looking at beautiful prints hung on a wall in a real life frame!

I guess we will see what the future holds.

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Personally I am a huge proponent of hardcopy archiving (I am married to a librarian/archivist!).

Negatives in the future may be hard to enlarge and print, but prints are gold. Whenever I get a roll [processed (I send out) I get the prints.

To me the best way of getting hardcopy from digital is the welcome rise of the photobook. The templates are excellent and some brands offer very good acid-free archival paper. They layouts are better than rows/columns of 4x6 prints, and the softcopy of the book usually saved as a PDF, which is now an ISO standard, tweaked for digital archiving. If people ask me how I archive my digital photos I point them to this option. It's also very economical. I think we all get too much screen time and photobooks are probably the most approachable format I've come across for efficient and stylish display.

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Originally Posted by Hatchetman

My sources tell me that charcoal usage is trending down at 10% per annum. Given the current situation, I don't see how charcoal is a sustainable business. :)

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As a current art student I can tell you that charcoal is still a well used medium even more so than pencil. Even as a photography student I had to take Drawing I and Figure Drawing before I could much of anything else.
Also, at my school Photo I is still nearly all darkroom work. The other students still seem enthusiastic about it. Film will survive.

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Originally Posted by semi-ambivalent

"...What Kodak failed to understand is that people have switched from taking photos for remembering and commemorative reasons to using photos for identity and communication. The shift changes the emphasis away from print to social media platforms and dedicated apps.""

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From what I wrote on LFInfo:

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Antonio Perez was spotted fleeing peasants armed with cameras, pitchforks, torches, rope, sub-machine guns and tripods with long spikey points at the end as Kodak was delisted from the NYSE and filed for bankruptcy. Kodak film, once the choice of the Divine, used for capturing many poignant moments of mankind's existence from creation, the discovery of fire, and that stupid dog next door shagging that gnome lawn ornament, has been on the decline since people figured out that they really don't want memories to last forever. The company will be reorganized into a yet another latte coffee seller, and then go into bankruptcy again because the resulting product tastes worst than Starbucks drinks.

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Since the main medium of personal image gathering is now the cell phone, of course it makes sense that the pictures will be of "look at me," "look at stupid," and "here's this thing." That's the kind of pictures that get made using a cell phone. Photographic images have gone from the concept of "the moment" to "a moment."