Afraid of Film

I have to admit as a hobbyist photographer I am afraid of film. I am afraid to shoot film because I am afraid my photos will not be any good. I really did not like taking pictures until I got a digital camera. When I got my first camera, a disk camera, I quickly found out that I was not really good at taking photos. On a side note, at the time I thought the disk camera was a lot cooler then 110 camera. It might be because disc film was brand new.

Back to the topic, when I was shooting film I could rarely get photos that really captured what I wanted to capture. I know I did not work on it that much, but is never seemed to work for me. That is working my way up from a Disc Camera, 110 camera, 35mm point and shoot, and a my Pentax K1000. I could never seem to get the photos other people could get.

The other problem is that I would have to pay cash to see my failure. I would often get the "Tips on taking better photos" insert from Photo-Mat when I got my pictures back. Having to put money into photographer made it hard for me to get better at it.

I always loved digital photography. I remember seeing a woman with a digital camera in 1996 at the Chicago Art Institute. She told me to wait, the camera was not worth the $1000+ price tag. I got my first digital camera, my Sony Mavica MVC-FD88, as soon as I could. I remember when having my photos saved on floppies made sense.



Having digital camera, both point & shoots and a digital SLR, made it so I could learn about photography without having to pay for my mistakes. If I did not like any of the photos I could just delete them. It made it so I could just fire away and not worry about anything. If I really wanted to make sure I got a photos, I could snap two or three.

A few years ago Kate gave me a Holga as a gift. I will admit that I was intimidated by the camera. So many people love the camera. It is know for being quirky. A few times I knocked the back of the camera off when trying to use it. I shot the roll of film that came with the camera, but I was even afraid to get it developed.



This summer I was eyeing a toy camera at the Franklin Institute. Kate bought it for me as a gift. I decided to use it for the 101010 project. It would have been a shame to never use it. It only took me three months to get up the courage to try. The photos did not turn out that bad. It gave me the courage to buy film for my Holga and try again.



Using the Holga today I already wasted two photos. One because of a mistake loading the film and one by shooting a photo with the lens cap on. I already feel like I have waited that money. It is a hard feeling to get beyond.

I know there is something new to learn as a photographer by using film. I know that limiting my shots can show me something new. I feel like it has been a while before I have really tried to learn something about photography. This might be what I need to learn about.

I still have my Pentex K-1000. It has been sitting in my closet like a broken toy. Maybe I will even get the courage to use that.