Film's Allure — The Love of Analog


There is something special about watching a black and white print developing in a darkroom It's like being a magician, and I'm sure in the very early days of photography, people marveled at the magic early photographers were practicing.

And to me, the click of the shutter release is a magical sound.

I always have a camera or two with me whenever I'm out. I try to keep my compositions as simple and direct as I can but I'm always willing to experiment in the darkroom or with Photoshop or with an unusual lens or camera whenever a potential subject calls out for some alternative interpretation

For the majority of images in my archives, you'll find that a straightforward, non-manipulated approach was used,
Both my parents were avid photographers, which is one of the reasons I love photography.

Both my parents loved the esoteric in terms of cameras and both were mechanical engineers, so they were always picking up an unusual camera to experiment with. I've carried on that tradition by having a few shelves of unusual cameras at my home.

Lately I've been playing around with fisheye lenses and 110 cameras; cameras that use 16mm film in cartridges. I'm also intrigued with rotating lens cameras, so I have a few of those, too.

I've always had a darkroom of sorts, be it one in the kitchen or a make-shift darkroom in my bathroom. The first official darkroom I build was in my home in Oregon in the 1980s.

It's the “process” with film that captivates me. The process make me practice being patient and also increases my confidence in my technique.
Confidence: You've probably seen photographers constantly looking at the screens on the back of their digital cameras, checking one thing or another; exposure, composition, etc. It's referred to as “Chimping,” The photographer making an ooh shape of their lips echoing a chimpanzee making a ooh sound.
Constantly looking at the screen on the back of a digital camera might make you miss a once-in-a-lifetime photo, but more importantly to me, it reduces your own confidence and actual technical ability to take a well-exposed image instead of increasing your proficiency.

With a film camera, one has to be more confident about things like exposure and composition, because you are forced to wait and see if the shot you just took actually works once its developed and printed — the wait being hours or even days away.

The waiting mentioned above helps increase one's patience, not a bad thing to develop in many areas of life, not just photography.
I use digital cameras, but I love working with film cameras when I can because of the “process.”

I've always felt using film cameras as opposed to digital cameras makes one slow down and be more deliberate; which is what I refer to as the “process.” One reason I slow down with film is having a limited amount of frames on a roll of film, which makes you really think about each composition, whereas with a digital, I've seen people taking photos seemingly indiscriminately and then going through them later hoping for a successful shot.

I heard about one woman seemingly bragging about taking over 3,000 photos at a zoo to end up with five successful. When I heard about that percentage of successful shots I felt as if you might get the same percentage by giving a chimpanzee a camera and letting it loose at the zoo.

I'm not suggesting I'm better than other photographers, whether they use film or digital, I simply find I personally work at a slower pace when using film cameras rather than digitals.

I'll go out with one of my film cameras and take some photos, some of which I feel have some real potential, and then I'll head home.

What really gets my blood flowing is the anticipation of seeing a final, well printed, successful image.

The anticipation continues as I'll load the film into the developing tank, making sure my chemicals are at the correct temperature, developing the film, taking a quick look after fixing and washing and then hanging the negatives up to dry.

When the negatives are dry, I take out my magnifying loupe and decide if any individual images are worth printing. If I decide to print a negative, I go directly to doing a test print, not a test strip, which a lot of photographers do. A strip just gives you a small segment of the whole image along with an estimated exposure time. I've done enough printing to get the exposure time close, but by doing a whole print instead of just a strip, it enables me to see sections that might need dodging or burning along with needed contrast and the like.

I'll then work on a final print.

Influences

“W. Eugene Smith is certainly one of my favorite photographers,” Jacobsen said. “His photo essays define what photojournalism is to me. Paul Fusco also falls into that super photojournalist category. Robert Frank was more off-the-cuff, shoot from the hip kind of guy who I also appreciate.

Walker Evans and Russel Lee, who worked with the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression, also.

Jacobsen was asked about the role of the photographer in society.

There are so many roles photographers play in society, I feel that question is a bit too broad. But with that said, no matter what segment or style of photography a photographer practices, I really believe their role is to try to show the viewer something they haven't seen before; not in terms of a new subject, but the way the photographer interprets that subject, even if the subject is very common and seen often.

That brings me to my own work and why I photograph. I try to go out and surprise myself. By that I mean I try to go out and capture an image in a way that surprises me. That can be a simple composition or complex. It can be a photograph of people or of nature. But I want it to be one that pleases me on some way.

It might be the way the light strikes the subject, or the implied drama or motion. Or is can be in the surprise of experimenting with a single image and making it into a mirrored panoramic, which totally transforms the scene in an unexpected manner and prompts me, and hopefully the viewer, to look closer at it then they might have.

And hopefully it gives the viewer, and perhaps myself, a new insight into the scene that wasn't considered previously.

Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was tested. White Sands Missile Range, Alamogordo, NM, Leica M4 with Kodak infrared film
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Widelux F7 with Tri-X
Chinatown San Francisco, Olympus OM-1, 200mm lens, Tri-X (left) and Hope Dick Pastry, Leica M4 with Tri-X (right)
Bathing Serena, Canones, NM, Widelux F7 with Ilford HP5
Shiprock in northwestern New Mexico with tipi and Corvette. Canon F1, 200mm lens, Kodak Tri-X
Hare Krishna in Detroit, Leica M4, 21mm Super Angulon, Tri-X
Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico. Leica M3, Kodak infrared film
New Mexico State Police pilot John Denko flying over I-25 in Albuquerque, NM. Leica M4 Super Angulon 21mm, Ilford HP5
Amish man with wagon, Kalona, Iowa, Canon F1, 300mm, Ilford HP5
About 10 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, is the Tohono O’odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation and the Mission San Xavier del Bac. Taken with a Leica M3, Super Angulon 21mm, Kodak infrared film
1980s lowrider car show, Northern California, Leica M4, 35mm Summicron, Ilford HP5
Glass office in the Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan, Leica M4, Kodak Tri-X
Mime Mark Wenzel and woman, Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif., Nikon F with 24mm lens, Kodak Tri-X
Preparing for the planting of hops plants, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Leica M4, 21mm Super Angulon, Ilford HP5
Mother and son on trolley, New Orleans, La, Leica M4, 35mm Summicron, Kodak Tri-X
Darla concentrates on feeding Nick, St. Helena, Calif., Leica M4, 35mm Summicron, Kodak Tri-X
Cesar Chavez participating in the March on Gallo protest march, Central California, Leica M4, 21mm Super Angulon, Kodak Tri-X
Descansos (roadside crosses), Highway 84, Rio Arriba County, Northern New Mexico, Widelux F6, Ilford HP5
Marylin Butsey, foundry working in Detroit, Michigan, taken for Newsweek Magazine, Olympus OM-1, 200mm, Kodak Tri-X
Storefront Baptist church, Detroit, Michigan. Leica M4, 35mm Summicron, Kodak Tri-X
United Farm Worker protester in Coachella, California. Nikon F, 24mm, Kodak Tri-X
One of my favorite street scenes taken in San Francisco, Calif., of a boy enjoying a makeshift swing on the back of a deliver truck. Leica M3, 35mm Summicron, Kodak Tri-X film
Cutting wood on a commune in Slocan Park, British Columbia, Canada. Nikon F, 200mm, Kodak Tri-X
Houses in fog, San Francisco, Calif., Nikon F, 200mm, Kodak Tri-X, one of a series of images purchased by Cornell Capa
Elderly couple star at fashion model, Union Square, San Francisco, Leica M4, 35mm Summicron, Kodak Tri-X
Household workers taking a bus from inner city Detroit to the suburbs, Leica M4, Summicron 35mm, Ilford HP5
Detroit Farmers Market, Leica M4, 21mm Super Angulon, Kodak Tri-X
To contact Bob Eckert for assignments, consultations or workshops, please email [email protected]
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