A thought about how film fits in our world.

[markbarendt]

Okay,

So last night my wife and I went out to Valentine's day dinner.

Slow food, great experience.

Two things (besides being out with my wife) made it really special.

1 - The pace of the meal.
2 - The type of meal.

Did I mention slow. 2 1/2 hours start to finish, 8 or so small courses served one at a time with live music. It started with non-alcoholic Prickly Pear cactus bubbly, included a bread made with cattails, a scrumptious curry soup, a sorbet to die for just before the main course, and ended a chocolate coconut hot toddy. All raw and wild foods, purely vegetarian fare.

The evening was truly special because of it's pace and because it isn't normal.

(Side note - Just for giggles I tried this pace again today with more normal rations while I was working around the house and ate half my normal portions and felt very satisfied.)

The group putting this on is a non-profit and the restaurant is a small but growing concern that helps support the non-profit through good old fashioned capitalism. It is even moving from 2 to 3 days a week open. They teach cooking and about wild food gathering and I don't know what all else.

So what does this have to do with analog photography?

This restaurant is bucking the normal hurry-up trend of our world and riding on the back of the green movement, the back to the land movement, vegetarianism, and good old peace-loving liberal (hippy) thought.

My thought is that analog photography's future success is probably based on the elephants in the room that nobody is talking about, and no I'm not talking about digital, I'm talking about the lack of time we all seem to face and the changes in social interaction/communication.

My question now is "what social trends can we surf on going forward?"

[Brian Legge]

Film is physical. As more of our world goes digital, there will be an element which wants more more permanence. Film based photography hits this niche. Film is also a romantic, artistic novelty; people selling both Holga and Lomo cameras are already exploiting these markets. I think there will always be niches interested in film photography from these perspectives.

With the departure of 600 film, the bigger question in my mind is how long will making film be profitable enough to keep companies doing it? If demand drops far enough, some suppliers won't make enough money to justify the expense of manufacturing film. That could spike film prices, pushing more people out of it, and kicking off a feedback loop.

I think the biggest thing supporting film right now is the volume of cheap gear out there. Buy a digital camera for $1000 or a relatively complete medium format system camera for $600 and have $400 to cover consumables.

[Christopher Walrath]

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (sort of)

Digital is physical. The more of the world that goes digital, the more it goes digital. For someone who has the knowledge and the wherewithal to be meticulous in their workflow, there is a permanance in digital, just as someone who doesn't know their Tri-X from a hole in the ground can ruin a reat neg. Film I think is slightly more than a niche, but it has definitely found a new place in the photograhic scheme of things. Sure, there are old film pros gone to digi that still shoot film for personal enjoyment. Just as many that have converted all together.

Film will continue to become less profitable until eventually there are only one or two producing it and then the price will rose like the price of a pack of Marlboro Menthol Lights.

And I don't think it is a matter, so much, of supporting film as it is in using it and related consumables. It's not only the diff between the expensive digi ear and the less expensive (unless you're getting a Leica or a Hassy) analog gear, but it's the time involved and the way it is spent. There are those, as most of us are, that prefer the hands on approach to film processing and enlarging. There are those with a penchant for poor eyesight and carpal tunnel syndrome that would rather sit down for hours on end in post processing.

Film and digital are two completely different monsters. But both require countless hours in practice and training in order to acheive any amount of profiency.

[mopar_guy]

Okay,

So last night my wife and I went out to Valentine's day dinner.

Slow food, great experience.

Two things (besides being out with my wife) made it really special.

1 - The pace of the meal.
2 - The type of meal.

Did I mention slow. 2 1/2 hours start to finish, 8 or so small courses served one at a time with live music. It started with non-alcoholic Prickly Pear cactus bubbly, included a bread made with cattails, a scrumptious curry soup, a sorbet to die for just before the main course, and ended a chocolate coconut hot toddy. All raw and wild foods, purely vegetarian fare.

The evening was truly special because of it's pace and because it isn't normal.

(Side note - Just for giggles I tried this pace again today with more normal rations while I was working around the house and ate half my normal portions and felt very satisfied.)

The group putting this on is a non-profit and the restaurant is a small but growing concern that helps support the non-profit through good old fashioned capitalism. It is even moving from 2 to 3 days a week open. They teach cooking and about wild food gathering and I don't know what all else.

So what does this have to do with analog photography?

This restaurant is bucking the normal hurry-up trend of our world and riding on the back of the green movement, the back to the land movement, vegetarianism, and good old peace-loving liberal (hippy) thought.

My thought is that analog photography's future success is probably based on the elephants in the room that nobody is talking about, and no I'm not talking about digital, I'm talking about the lack of time we all seem to face and the changes in social interaction/communication.

My question now is "what social trends can we surf on going forward?"

Last night I had steak and country fried potatoes. If I took my wife out to a place that served a vegetarian meal, I would end up sleeping on the couch. Film fits in just fine in my meat eating world too.:rolleyes:

[maderik]

Okay,
purely vegetarian fare.

Alas, analog film is not vegetarian. Gelatin is made from by-products of meat and leather production.

[sun of sand]

twitter.com lol

there is no green in trends
I consider it a trend
movements are for those wanting to move
true green environmentalism has always been

"normal hurry-up trend"
which is it
normal or a trend
I'm not so sure myself
I'm inclined to believe it's actually a trend
I think people WANT TO APPEAR busy and the easiest way to do so is say that you are
The real dangerous people are those actually filling up their day with whatevers to be constantly busy

and I think it's terrible that many people who still consider themselves to be of the unbusy are beginning to believe they're doing something wrong
and wanting to move


Why is a 2.5 hour meal special?
I cannot think of any reason
Seems trendy
a slow movement

Rickshaws are great for those not wanting to move on their own and the rickshaw operator lives off of em
if the operator can walk and haul how lazy are you wanting to just sit there
who experiences life
who respects it
You cannot be green nor an environmentalist if you decide to sit

"because it isn't normal"
Who says normalcy isn't special
seems life has lived for an awfully long time to get to this point and all of a sudden it needs to be SpEcIaLL
Sounds like ADD


cossack asparagus cattails don't taste like anything
I eat them right out of the muck
your cattail bread is just bread from cattail flour
not saying flour isn't special
but cattail flour isn't any more special
it's only different


Film fits because we've made room for it
Stop making room and it doesn't
not always a bad thing to stop making room but sometimes what you give up can be your undoing

[DanielStone]

film(specifically LF) makes me slow down, and really LOOK at the image.

about 50% of the time I end up packing up the camera and moving on because, well, I don't feel "moved" by the image I see after really looking at it on the GG.

shooting 35mm is generally another story, I generally shoot that on motor drive(mostly for portraits of friends, doing my best to catch expressions as I joke with them whilst shooting)

but the patience factor of film is something that has taught me to really appreciate MAKING and image, rather than TAKING one. personally, I wish I could see more people willing to MAKE an image that MOVES them, rather than just recording something they SEE and have FOUND. different strokes....

mark: meal sounds like it was delish! I'm more of a 'meat and potatoes' kind o' guy, but thats just me

unfortunately, the closest I get to female attention at the moment is from my ever-doting mother and my sister who's away at school. no g/f or wife for me, yet, but I'm in no rush, I don't feel lonely on Valentines Day, I'm shooting film tomorrow, so I'm content

I'm not much of a fan of the "green" movement, but I can see where recycling and cleaning up of one's environment, with less pesticides and chemicals in our foods can be a good thing, to a point. I'm glad my drinking water is fluorinated, I've been to some places where it isn't, and it isn't always white shiny smiles

-Dan

[lightwisps]

I am also on another board that is mostly digital. I find it hilarious the af times that the forum has articles about making their digi images look like film. Want it to look like film the solution is easy. Use film.

At our gallery we sell very few digital prints, but a lot of analog prints. We are getting known for carrying them.

In my opinion, analog prints have much more depth than digital.We sell more B/W than Ilfochromes, but the depth and brightness of the Ilfochromes blow a lot of people out of the water. They have never seen one

[Rick A]

Film has always fit my lifestyle, no matter what speed I've had to live at. But I'm currious, where is the restaurant--Durango, maybe? I've taken many(and given many) survival courses, and actually like cattail root, it tastes way better than 'possum, but not nearly as good as pricklypear fruit. Did they serve nopalitos?

Rick

[markbarendt]

Film has always fit my lifestyle, no matter what speed I've had to live at. But I'm currious, where is the restaurant--Durango, maybe? I've taken many(and given many) survival courses, and actually like cattail root, it tastes way better than 'possum, but not nearly as good as pricklypear fruit. Did they serve nopalitos?

Rick

http://www.turtlelakerefuge.org/