I watched a film last night where a war photographer in the near future was using film cameras. As much as I appreciated the beauty of the images it felt pretty ridiculous. The obligation of reloading, carrying multiple cameras, having limited shots, it’s sort of bothersome at the best of times, and potentially life-threatening in the situations she was putting herself in.

The bothersome aspects of using film described above are none of the reasons I switched to digital. I switched to digital for financial reasons, and reasons of time management. Film is expensive, and the notion of spending hours each week developing and scanning felt needlessly challenging in an already challenging world. 

Not knowing the financial situation of the character in the film I can only comment on the time consuming side of dealing with film. When I had more time, and photography had a huge degree of romance and a veneer of newness to it, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of developing and scanning. 

Processing felt like an opportunity for rumination and reflection, a chance to enjoy, for a second time, the decisive moment, as it were.

For this character those ruminations likely alternated between the unutterably horrible, when forced to revisit disturbing experiences, and the nearly relaxing or philosophical as the case may be. 

I’m glad I’m not a war photographer.
I just like taking pictures of Roby and Abby and the place where I live.