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Usually for my Christmas photograph I follow the big events of the year, and you can see in this article what I did in the past, but this year I decided to stay far away from the world events. I simply decided that I had two choices: getting very upset with how the world is run and be very polemic and political or concentrating on my passion for photography. I chose the latter.

I decided to create an homage to film photography.

First of all in the last years I started to use again film for a lot of my artistic production. Second this year was a great year for film photographers; Leica produced again the film camera M6 and Pentax announced, just few days ago, that will again produce analog cameras.

It’s really a great moment for film photography because the involvement of big companies in the analog field means film is not dead and there will be a revival as there was in music with vinyl.

We have to remember we are analog creatures and sometime is fundamental for us to have analog experiences and spend our time far from the artificial digital world. We need it to remember we are able to enjoy infinite nuances, much more than a digitally converted world will be able to give us. We need analog experiences to remember that the human beings and our beautiful world cannot be translated in approximated numbers. We really need to remind to ourselves that the life must be lived in person and is not meant to be spend interacting with a computer.

I wish your 2023 will be full of analog experiences, in photography and in life.

Just kidding, but after I made the video you can check here, where I talk about the new trend of AI creating photography, this idea came to my mind… what if? lol

Let me know what you think about the use of AI in the creation of art!

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I made a test with two different negatives: a very soft flower subject lighted with painted light and a very sharp subject lighted with a very contrasted light. I wanted to see how this printing process deals with different subjects.

I proceeded with some step test to find the corrected exposure for my negatives. I did 2 seconds steps and as you can see in the video I was a little optimist with my first strip of 2,4,6,8 seconds exposure. At the end the correct exposure resulted of 11 minutes.

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You can see the tests I made in the video below.

I was expecting shorter exposure times ’cause I seen some other boxes made with the same LED giving short exposure times with other alternative processes.

Still I like the slow times when I work with film and so I kinda like to have time to think while I wait for the paper to be exposed.

The Arduino timer is working greatly and it’s a pleasure to use this box!

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I have to learn to pose the emulsion better on the paper. The thickness came out not uniform and there are spots where the emulsion did not spread at all on the paper. Still I have a lot to learn but as a fist try I’m quite satisfied of the results.

The LabOldTech2000 kit is very easy to use and complete.

See you next time with new projects!

The book can be previewed and bought here on Blurb.

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I kept the book very simple, with a short version of the tales and just location and camera used for each picture.

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See you with the new projects…

Here my answer. It is a little provocation but is exactly what I think.

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Let me know what you think.

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Here some images taken with Ilford HP5 and developer in Ilfotec HC. Click on them to enlarge.

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See you next time… perhaps with a little more serious camera!

The fact is that I really like film photography for many reasons and not just for the better aesthetic for some situations.

Here my main ten reasons, you can read just the titles or you can open the video below and hear the complete explanation I give:

• It’s simple
• Better learning curve
• More control
• Film means reality
• Visible without tools
• Variety of formats and cameras
• Aesthetic
• Value
• It’s a slow process
• It’s analogue!

If you want to see a comparison between film and digital, you can read a couple of articles I wrote some time ago:

Digital Fuji Acros vs Ilford FP4 Film

Fuji Acros Digital vs Fuji Acros Film

Until the next time!