This week, Miles @expiredfilmclub shot the NY Jets game on film, developed it, scanned it, and posted it while the game was still happening. (PetaPixel has more: petapixel.com/2024/10/18/p…)
Last week, I shot Aurora on film around midnight, then posted the results here (along with a long-form article: analog.cafe/r/shooting-nor…) in the afternoon (yes, I slept).
From what I understood about the demise of film photography, particularly in journalism, it was pushed out by the convenience of digital cameras. They were faster and more practical for time-sensitive applications. But in 2024, it seems less true, as we’ve learned to use the same digital cameras to scan film quickly and transfer the results instantaneously:
It’s easier to select the best shots out of 36 instead of thousands on a memory card, and well-scanned quality emulsions come with a formulated colour profile, in contrast to the editing some digital photos may require to look “right.”
Lastly, there’s something to say about the built-in authenticity of physical negatives in the sea of digital fakes and AI slop (see analog.cafe/r/shot-on-film…).
Of course, not every shot is possible on film, and it can be out of the budget (esp video analog.cafe/comments/lso8), but still.
Dmitri Oct 19, ‘24 edit