The Millennial Experience

I’ve been taking film photos for as long as I can remember. I was born into the last generation whose childhood was captured with film cameras - the digital revolution came for analogue photography during my teenage years - so I had an understanding of the basic mechanics baked into my early years.

Throughout university life my photography itch was scratched with Polaroid. At the time cameras were cheap (my first bargains on eBay!) and film easily available, but as I graduated into the recession of 2008 I could no longer count on either of those to sustain my hobby.

With money from my first proper job I bought an entry-level DSLR, buying into the digital promise of cheap and easy ‘professional’ images. And it was a fantastic way to quickly learn, by trial-and-error, the finer details of the exposure triangle and how best to compose and capture light for good effect.

However…

I simply did not enjoy the experience of shooting a digital camera. The look, the feel, the instantaneous nature, the requirement to sit at a computer to see and sort the photos - none of this was appealing to me. It seemed to take time and energy away from the act of making images, and after a few months the idea of technical perfection no longer felt like a worthwhile goal.

I made photographs to capture feelings and moments, and I enjoyed the interpretation and imperfections that made them feel real. Digital worked hard to strip those away (and then sold you methods to add them back in during ‘post’!) - with cameras that were soulless: black clunky heavy plastic machines.

And so gradually I began leaving my camera at home, and might have left photography itself behind - forever - were it not for the chance inheritance of an Olympus OM-1 film camera.

I took this with me on holiday, and immediately fell in love with the experience. On my return, and by complete coincidence, I was gifted a Lomography Diana+ for my birthday and my analogue obsession began in earnest!

From my first roll with the Diana - taken on my morning commute to the corporate job

This combination of cameras - the gorgeous 35mm Olympus SLR and the unpredictably brilliant 120 Diana - covered me for every photographic occasion. Suddenly I was taking cameras every time I left the house once more, and loving the opportunity to stretch my creative muscles. Film photography had become my primary hobby and the perfect antidote to my corporate sales job. Computers and data during the daytime - light, chemicals and chance in the evenings and weekends.

Many years (and even more cameras…) later, I’m in the lucky position of no longer being tied into the time and energy requirements of a corporate job. I can invest more of my life into capturing timeless images on iconic analogue machinery, and for that I am eternally grateful.