Film aesthetics without content

I grew up in the 1970s and learned the craft of photography in the late 1980s with an inexpensive Pentax 35mm analogue SLR camera in hand, spending countless hours in the darkroom. Stacks of 35mm film negatives and colour transparencies still bear witness to my creativity. Back in 1999, I was quick to jump onto the digital wagon, buying an expensive (for the time) Sony point-n-shoot camera. By 2006, I began using DSLRs and Adobe Lightroom as my digital darkroom. I returned to 35mm film photography a few years ago. While relearning 35mm film photography, I have abused quite a bit of 35mm film, trying to accomplish with my Minolta XD-11 camera what I could more easily produce with my Fuji X-T3 digital mirror-less camera. I even tried using film simulation recipes to duplicate the looks of popular 35mm films such as Portra, Kodachrome, and Ilford HP5.

I looked around the web for inspiration and followed some popular film photographers. But I started to feel like the more I looked at the work of present data famous film photographers, the more disillusioned I felt. Many present-day photographers take too many photographs without content; they fetishise the film aesthetics (grain, tonality, etc.) without considering the subject matter.

We can speculate as much as we want about the reasons why the photographic film is coming back. I personally think that it’s one part nostalgia and one part a desire for a more challenging and hands-on medium.

Take the popular Instagram channel, burbsonfilm. I started following this channel because I thought the subject matter would be more approachable since I live in the suburbs. I also hope to learn what film stock might work best for this subject matter. But after some time, I started to see a pattern. Almost all images are captured via some 1970s or 1980s time machine camera. Nearly every scene has a 1970s era car parked in a driveway or street corner, and run-down gas stations, records stores, and vintage diners are common. I have photographed the Princeton, Montgomery, Hopewell and Lamberville suburbs. Few of my 35mm film or digital photographs of these areas look like anything on the burbsonfilm channel.

The content on the boxspeed Instagram channel is more varied, but much of it is still trying to evoke scenes from the 1970s and 1980s. It seems to me that many current film photographers are trying to recreate the look and feel but also the time and place of old photographs from the 1970s and 1980s. Many of these photographers are trying hard to show that they shoot 35mm film by using film stock with excessive grain, exposing expired 35mm film, or using a camera with mechanical defects (e.g. light leaks). Perhaps to them, all of this is new.

Pier 11, Wall Street, Manhattan | 26 February, 2020 | Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II | SMC Takumar 55mm f/2 | Ilford HP5+

In the late 90s and early 2000s, 35mm film cameras and printing became very advanced and technical image quality improved considerably and moved away from the limitations of the 1970s and 1980s. 35mm film stocks didn't change much, but the cameras became more capable. Ironically the number of people shooting film declined as more people were switching (briefly) to digital point-n-shoot cameras and then ultimately to smartphones. Now here we are in the 2020s, and suddenly this 35mm film photography is cool again because many of the people shooting it are experiencing it for the first time in their lives. This is a recycled old hat for anyone who started with 35mm film photography in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.

Hipstamatic was one of the first popular smartphone apps that tried to emulate actual film flaws like exaggerated grain, underexposure, light leaks, and faded colour prints. Hipstamatic was an attempt to lend authenticity to digital images. Somehow, evoking the memories of faded snapshots made the digital image feel more "real" (I'm rolling my eyes right now). I think this feeling has led some people to intentionally create poor 35mm pictures (exaggerated grain, underexposure, light leaks, etc.) to hammer home that the image was taken with film.

Of course, the film negative must be digitally scanned and uploaded and shared for viewing on smartphone size screens. So what we are seeing are digital impressions of analogue media. I believe that well-made images made with quality film stock (anything that is not homography) are indistinguishable from digital camera creations once you shrink the photos down to fit on a smartphone. The flaws are the only reason to shoot with 35mm film for many people.

Avalon Beach | Wednesday, 26 August, 2020 | Minolta X-700 | MD Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.7 | Ektachrome E100

While I have not intentionally attempted to photograph scenes that would be commonplace in the 1970s or 1980s, nor intentionally underexposure my film, I must admit I'm guilty as anyone for posting scans of my failed 35mm film adventures but additionally that the subject of many of my 35mm film photographs are “underwhelming”. I want to step up my 35mm film photography game. I want to make pictures worthy of sharing. In my search for inspiration, I discovered a new e-zine called Grain, dedicated to film photographers. It’s a project by the publishers of the Fuji X Passion e-zine. Lifetime membership is US$35. I mostly make photographs with my Fuji X-T3, but I subscribed anyway.

If my rant conveys a bitter narrative, I apologise. Ultimately photography is about using a visual medium to tell "the story” and not about the process that captured it. A good photo is a good photo. How it was made need not be explained to the viewer. Yes, I am a bit of a hypocrite here. The captions in my posted images all contain the type of equipment used, and if it’s a scan of a 35mm film photograph, I include the film stock. Why?

I think it’s a sort of signal, indicating to members of the Fuji X and 35mm film community that may happen upon my website that “I am here. I am one of you”.

Enjoying Art

How do you feel about your favourite art, whether it be music, photography, or any other medium?

Over on 35Hunter, Dan James is always serving up interesting conversations triggered by the questions he asks. I find myself writing longer responses in the comments, and at the end, I realise I have written a short blog post. You can say that Dan's blog posts generate writing prompts for my own.

One of Dan's recent posts was entitled, The Purity Of Enjoying Art Detached From The Artist. Would you please visit the link to read it? Dan put this question at the end.

How do you feel about your favourite art, whether it be music, photography, or any other medium?

Do you also have a keen interest in who created it and want to know all about them? Or are you interested purely in the art alone?

From my dad, I learned the joy of listening to the entire record album. Dad loved his Hi-Fi; sometimes, it seemed more than his kids, and he preferred listening through speakers. His stereo was a Sunday morning alarm clock for us boys.

While we enjoyed the music, Dad and I also enjoyed reading the record liner while discussing some of the technical aspects of the performance, the reproduction quality via his equipment, etc., but mostly appreciating the music and being in awe of the creativity of the musician. This is active listening.

I have Apple’s music streaming service and Spotify and tried Tidal, and I think they’re great for background music at a party, etc. But it doesn’t give me the same feeling. It’s not satisfying. These are things I’ve only come to realise recently.

So I have decent Open Air headphones from Grado, which I use for listening to albums on Apple Music. I’m building out a kit. Schiit Audio makes acclaimed headphone amps and DACs, which I’m considering purchasing.

It’s the same for photography. Instagram is a nice distraction when I’m bored. One of my joys is photo walks with fellow photo geeks chatting about the artist, process and technology. Another is reading blogs like this one where the author puts outs questions that inspire long comment responses.

If we are having a cosy evening with a small group of close friends or family around a fire, we bring out the Highland single malt. Hosting a party for work colleagues? Lowlands blend.

Create this Twirl effect in Adobe Photoshop

I learned a new technique which I have used to transform a mundane set of images into something I find exciting.

I first read about this twirl technique on Hanne Siebers's blog. Dina learned about the technique from her camera club, The North Norfolk Photographic Society. She has used it to transform a photograph of Klausbernd into a twist. I loved the idea and looked at this video to which Dina provided a link.

The video shows how to create exciting artistic twirl effects in Adobe Photoshop. For me, the process is a way to explore the features of Photoshop, but I also found it to be a distraction from pandemic social isolation as well as a way to find more creativity in my day. While I was able to learn the process via the video, I did a lot of stopping and rewinding and flipping back and forth from the video to Photoshop. I find all of that annoying. I find any kind of online video learning annoying. It's not my learning style. I wrote down the steps to do it, and I hope this is useful to others. The text-based steps below are how I have created all subsequent twirls. It does, however, require knowledge of and familiarity with the Adobe Photoshop menus. For people who are not familiar with the right-side panel, the video may be a better choice.

Any image will do, but I got the best results from simple images that contain one to three main colours. As the starting point for the twirl created in this blog post, I used one of my recent iPhone photographs of East Pyne Hall on the Princeton University Campus. Once you have selected an image open the image in Adobe Photoshop. NOTE: I am using Adobe Photoshop CC.

If any of this is unclear please let me know. I have screenshots of the menus that I hope to include in an update to this blogs post.

Monday 4 May, 2020 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 11 Pro back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 | ISO 20
  1. In the right-side panel, right-click on the layer and select “Convert to Smart Object”.
  2. From the main menu, choose Filter->Pixelate->Mezzoint.
    1. Select “Medium Strokes” for type.
    2. Click Ok.
  3. From the main menu select Filter->Blur->Radial Blur.
    1. Set Blur Method to “Zoom” and amount to 100%.
    2. Click Ok.
    3. Repeat these steps two more times.
  4. From the main menu, Select Filter->Distort->Twirl.
    1. Set the Angle to -100% and click Ok.
    2. Right-click on the Twirl layer you just created and select "Edit Smart Filter Blending Options"
    3. Set the Blending Mode to Lighten.
  5. Repeat the Twirl from the step above but in the other direction. From the main menu, Select Filter->Distort->Twirl.
    1. Set the Angle to 100% and click Ok.
    2. Right-click on the Twirl layer you just created and select "Edit Smart Filter Blending Options"
    3. Set Blending Mode to Lighten.
    4. Click Ok.
  6. From the right-side at the bottom of the Layers panel click the Adjustment Layer button adjustment layers button and select Curves.
    1. Adjust black and whites to create a slight S curve.
  7. From the right-side at the bottom of the Layers panel click the Adjustment Layer button adjustment layers button and select Vibrance
    1. Change the Vibrance setting to personal taste.
  8. From the right-side at the bottom of the Layers panel click the Adjustment Layer button adjustment layers button and select Color Balance
    1. Play around with the sliders until you get something you like.
  9. Select the original layer and add another Twirl. From the main menu, select Filter->Distort->Twirl.
    1. Set the Angle to -150% and click Ok.
    2. Right-click on the Twirl layer you just created and select "Edit Smart Filter Blending Options"
    3. Set Blending Mode to Lighten.
    4. Click Ok.
Instant Miso Soup Package | Thursday 30 April, 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR | f/6.4 | ISO 3200
Yellow orchid flowers | Wednesday 29 April, 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR | f/2.8 | ISO 400
Pink orchids flowers | Wednesday 29 April, 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR | f/2.8 | ISO 800
Pantry door | Wednesday 29 April, 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR | f/2.8 | ISO 250
Bowl of oranges | Wednesday 29 April, 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR | f/2.8 | ISO 4000