So the other day, I started doing research on instant camera film and came across the Impossible Project, an instant film manufacturer that makes film for Polaroid cameras. Although it's a little expensive and I don't plan on getting any to play around with anytime soon, I bounced some ideas off my mother about using an instant camera to take a few of my friend's engagement photos.
She then asked why they would bring back instant film to begin with.
She was right though. Instant film is expensive, low quality, vulnerable to UV radiation, and most of all, the colors are splotchy and tonal ranges are usually not all that great. This is an outdated format that was never more than a gimmick for family photos or at most, the tool of a pre-digital photographer that needed a proof shot.
However, as I explained to her, all of the things that you don't like about these cameras are all of the things that I want in my pictures
As I explained to her the Lomography movement and all of the hipsters, artists, and film photography people embracing it, she began to understand the artistic quality that instant cameras posses. It's almost tongue-in-cheek with a vintage air but not quite; in other words: art. These cameras: Polaroids, Holgas, Dianas, and Lomos, take photos that are more than the sum of their parts.
When you go on Instagram, almost everyone is taking pictures with normal cameras, sometimes even great cameras, and putting a filter over the image to make it look old. Why? Because there is something to be had in an old looking image. It brings a feeling of nostalgia and timelessness. But, why make a good looking image look old when you can have a camera that will take the real thing? This is where the Lomography movement comes in and this is also why the Holga, a camera that I describe as "so bad it's good," costs $30 shipped when it only costs about $2 to make. When demand rises, prices rise as well.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with this. This new movement is probably why there's so many new films on the market like CineStill or Red Bird. If anything, this helped save a dying art and create new interest in something that was previously getting its tombstone cut. I mean, if Ilford introduced their B&W disposable camera 10 years ago, they would've been laughed at.
Professional quality film photography isn't going anywhere. It won't go away in 10, 20, or maybe even 30 years from now, but it definitely will change. Most people nowadays, when looking at high quality pictures, regard film grain and digital noise to be the same thing. They're similar, but I've never seen sensor noise that I thought was attractive. Eventually though, camera makers will figure out how to get the resolution and quality of their digital sensors to match and exceed film. But, when that happens, the Lomo movement will keep film alive.
P.S. In 150 years, digital photography as we know it will be where film is now.
