Film vs. Digital

I shoot a lot of pictures every month. There are client shoots, events at work, family events, and of course, shooting for just the fun of it. It is not uncommon for me to shoot one image again and again, changing the setting just to see what kind of results I'll get. I'm self taught so it's how I learned my machine and got familiar with the options that I had. I shoot digital and have since consumer level digitals became available. I, however, never owned a film SLR. All of my film cameras were point and shoot so I didn't need to play with the setting much.

I say all of that to say that I can't imagine doing what I do with film! I look at the greats and I am flabbergasted that they achieved the amazing prints that they did just using math and post production. It makes the images even more astounding. I remember shooting a roll of film and rushing it to the photomat so I could get the prints back in a week. When the time period started to get shorter (eventually we could get prints in an hour), the anticipation was even greater it seemed. I can't imagine what it must be like as a photographer shooting a wedding or an amazing scene and not knowing whether you got the shot that you WANTED. Nerve racking!

I try to emulate those photographers by doing the math as if I were using film. I still shoot a lot of frames but I know what should pop up on my viewfinder now as opposed to wondering what would happen if I change x setting or moved y amount of feet away. It has given me much more rewarding shoots and has given me more of a connection with my brothers and sisters using film.