Film Photography

 

Choosing the Right Medium

 

         Every artistic vision requires the right tools. For me, accuracy in detail, faithful color reproduction, and a harmonious, immersive atmosphere are essential. My goal is to translate into a tangible image the emotions I felt while witnessing a landscape. Traditional chromogenic film excels at achieving this expression: it captures nature’s subtlety, intricate textures, and fleeting light in a way that resonates deeply.

 

         Film photography is an organic process. The film itself contains layers of silver halide combined with dye couplers. When exposed to light, each layer responds to specific colors, which are then revealed through chemical development. Unlike digital imaging, where colors are reconstructed through software, film embeds color physically within the image, creating a tangible presence you can see and feel.

 

         Digital photography, by contrast, relies on sensors that detect only black and white. Color information is reconstructed using red, green, and blue filters, then processed through a process called Bayer interpolation. This method inherently loses some fine details and mid-tones, which are artificially sharpened for clarity. Inkjet printing then applies microscopic droplets onto paper, producing an image that, despite technological advancements, lacks the material depth of film. Holding an inkjet print, I feel a disconnection: the image is not in the paper but merely on it.

 

A Harmonious Aesthetic

 

         Digital photography is efficient and versatile, making it ideal for high-impact, vibrant images suited for screens and commercial displays. On social media, digital images are optimized to stand out. However, when framed and placed in a home, the hyper-saturated colors and excessive sharpness of digital prints often feel intrusive. Rather than blending with their surroundings, they demand attention.

 

         For my Interior Art project, I approach photography differently. I spend hours observing a landscape, considering its composition and emotional impact. Before I press the shutter, I ask myself: Would I want to see this image every day in my living space? If the answer is no, I don’t take the shot. This mindset makes the speed and convenience of digital photography irrelevant to my artistic process. What matters to me is capturing the essence of a scene as I experienced it.

Chromogenic film, especially in medium format, allows me to do this with remarkable depth and fidelity. Film offers rich, natural colors without artificial saturation. Mid-tones are nuanced, highlights and shadows retain their integrity, and fine details fade naturally into the distance, just as the human eye perceives them. The image does not need heavy post-processing to achieve an organic, lifelike quality: it is inherently there.

 

         A traditionally crafted film print, developed with expert techniques on high-quality paper, becomes an organic extension of the space it inhabits. Rather than overwhelming the viewer, it enhances the atmosphere. The colors and textures are so true to nature that the image feels like a window to the outside world, evoking the emotions and sensations of the original moment.

 

A Lifelong Commitment to Film

 

         Needless to say, I am a film lover. I developed my first black-and-white film in 1983, and since 1986, I have photographed nature exclusively with chromogenic film. I have never stopped (though I occasionally use digital for other subjects and projects where it is more suitable). Over the years, my spending on film and processing could have easily covered the cost of a new professional medium-format digital camera every year, yet I have remained committed to film. Only medium-format chromogenic film can truly capture the emotions I feel when contemplating the grandeur of nature.

 

         I am currently exploring new projects using traditional hand-processed black-and-white film and look forward to sharing them with you. In the meantime, I invite you to explore my gallery, where the true impact of film photography speaks for itself.                  

 

 

 

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