Perspectives on Film
by Shawn Burke
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama, don't take my Kodachrome away
-Paul Simon (1973)
One of my earliest memories as I was growing up in the 1970s was dancing (or should I say boogieing down) to the song “Kodachrome” by Paul Simon. Little did I know back in those formative years in the early 70s that I would later develop a deep passion for photography and capturing beautiful imagery.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. -Ecclesiastes 3:11
Vintage Film. Image courtesy of Nordwood Themes on Unsplash.
I remember I received my first camera as a gift shortly after my early boogie days. When I was about five years old, my grandma bought me a Fisher Price changeable picture disc camera. I took many great pictures with that one even if they were all in my mind! A few years later I upgraded to a View Master camera and had several dozen discs to choose from. The vivid color pictures would light up as I pointed towards the light and pressed the button. I must have been about thirteen years old when I finally got my first real 35mm camera. It was a Konica C35 EF with electronic flash. There was something very intimate, and exciting as I set out with my camera in hand with a brand new roll of 24 exposure 35mm film. What could I discover? What 24 images would I capture? Then I later discovered that 35mm film came in 36 exposure too! WOW!! 36 pictures! The possibilities were absolutely endless, or so it seemed!
As a teenager in the 80s, I would often venture off through the woods, or to the beach to capture landscapes, bright clouds, crashing waves, coastal sunsets, fields of flowers and streaming waterfalls. I was always amazed to see the hand of God revealed in nature. I would climb high into a tree, or sometimes lay flat on the ground to get a unique perspective. Over time I learned that the best time to capture the most stunning images was when the sun was closer to the horizon. It gave everything a soft, golden hue, either shortly after sunrise, or just before sunset. Sometimes I would set up my shot, and wait 20 minutes...30 minutes...or longer for the lighting to be just right before I snapped the first picture. It had to be perfect. I didn’t want to waste any of those precious 24 or 36 frames!
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. -Romans 1:20
As I continued to develop my skills as a young photographer, I began to experiment with different types of film. I would change brands from Kodak, to Fuji, and then test various speeds of film to best capture the color and lighting. There were some professional grade films that I tried. I’m not sure how different they were but they sure made me feel like a pro! Would I choose Kodak Protra 400, Fuji X-Tra 400, Kodak 200 Gold, FujiColor C200, Kodak Color Plus 200 VR, FujiChrome Provia 100F? There were so many choices! I would compare the printed images and inspect the quality, clarity and finally the colors. I remember they were so vivid! I would spend hours going through photos, and putting them into albums to share with family and friends. Some of my favorites, I would have duplicates printed to share or have them enlarged and framed.
Blarney Castle (2002). Shot on on Fujichrome Provia 100F. Image courtesy of Shawn Burke.
Some of my fondest memories were times I spent with my grandmother and a box of old photographs. When I went to her house, we would lay across her king size bed with piles of old photos. The photos weren’t necessarily great photos, but mostly old black and white and faded color pictures, and there were a few old Polaroids mixed in as well. We would laugh and she would tell me stories and share memories she had of years gone by. The good old days sure were good!
With the turn of the century came the digital camera. Uggggghhhh! Those first few years they were so expensive! The pictures were pixelated and lacked the vibrancy, clarity and color that my beloved 35mm film camera could produce. There was no way I would ever convert from film to digital! ...EVER!
Five years later, I would surely eat those words! I could finally afford and bought my first digital camera and quickly discovered it had an endless number of photos that could be taken. Rather than film, it had a digital image sensor. I would never have to pay for film or developing prints ever again! I would be a wealthy man with all the money I’d save just on developing film! I could also quickly send the digital photos to friends and family over email rather than through the mail. I could use the computer to make corrections to the exposure, color, sharpness and contrast of an image. I didn’t have to wait for the right lighting or perfect exposure to take the shot anymore. I could snap off hundreds, thousands of frames and choose my favorites later on the computer. Now, even our cell phones can take amazing, high resolution digital photos. A couple quick edits just a few minutes later, it can be posted and shared to social media or on Instagram around the world. While it is so much more convenient, something precious has been lost.
The excitement & wonder I once enjoyed as a young teen with those 24 frames of film had faded. It had turned into hours upon hours of time sitting behind a glowing computer screen editing and saving digital images to a hard drive where many will never be seen again. Those same 24 photos have now become 24,000 large format RAW image files bogging down my computer. Multiply that times 5, 10 or 15 years of digital photo files. Now we need huge external hard drives to store all of them so the computer doesn't crash. If it ever did crash, the photos would be lost forever. Many years later, I wonder...will I lay across my bed with my grandkids and share pictures and stories with them?
Vintage Camera. Image courtesy of Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash.
There is something precious about the way things used to be, isn’t there? Think of the words, “vintage,” “classic,” “antique,” or “nostalgic.” What do they make you think of? Do they create intimate or cherished feelings or thoughts for you? Do they stir up emotions of a time gone by when things were simpler, or a time you would love to return to? Why is that?
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. -Luke 2:19
Whether you prefer film over digital, vintage or new...I believe both are a testament to our link to the past as well as a bridge to the future. There will always be pros and cons to every change we will face. The human mind will continue to create and technology will rapidly change the way we live our lives. How can we continue to move forward if we only remain in the past? How can we remember our past and where we came from if we never slow down to look back at how far we’ve come?
I remember to think about the many things you did in years gone by. -Psalm 143:5
Resources
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