Film photography in the digital age; lost art form or an outdated craft?
Some photographers still prefer the old-school charm of film, using it as a medium to tell stories in a way that digital photography cannot.
The artistic appeal of film photography lies in its ability to offer a different perspective; one that values the process just as much as the result.
Its unpredictability where each shot is a surprise waiting to be developed in the darkroom.
"No place is boring if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film," said Robert Adams, a famous American photographer.
Despite the convenience and immediacy offered by high-resolution smartphone cameras and advanced digital cameras, this seemingly antiquated art form offers a tangible connection to the past, a pause in the fast-paced digital world.
In Africa, the narrative is slightly different. Digital photography dominates the scene, especially for events like weddings.
The reasons are practical; digital photography allows for immediate feedback, easy sharing, and cost-effectiveness.
Some contemporary artists in Africa have found their artistic voice through digital photography.
Michael Aboya, a Ghanaian-based photographer uses his mirrorless Sony camera to capture imaginations. The Ghanaian has won multiple international awards and is the artist of the splash screen image of Adobe Lightroom Classic 2022, a professional photo editing and organising software designed by Adobe for photographers.
"When I was 19 my passion for arts and photography became very real. At the time I was studying software programming, a subject I had no particular interest in... The journey and story began when I lost my father to cancer," Aboya tells his journey from being a software programmer to becoming a photographer.
The deliberate process of setting up the shot, adjusting the settings, and manually focusing the lens adds a tangible, hands-on experience that digital photography just cannot replicate.
But is it still relevant today? The fulfilment of holding the final print after a gruelling shoot with a Canon A1 Vintage SLR 35mm might bring a lot of joy to the film enthusiast. However, to the digital photographer, those fleeting moments of joy can never beat the 61-point autofocus precision of a Canon 5D Mark iv.
