Shoot Something Worth Keeping

Shooting on film does not equate to shooting street photography instantly.

Over the past two years, every time I see a photographer who is trying film for the first time, he / she will always shoot street photography (well 99% of the time). Sure, the most well known street photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson shot everything on film, and most of the iconic street photographs that we know of were shot on film. But we can't just instantly pair the two together. It doesn't do film justice.

Of course, if the photographer was a street photographer to begin with, I wouldn't comment much. The thing is that most of these photographers who are trying film for the first time tend to be portrait, or landscape / cityscape shooters. So it kinda confuses me as to why they would want to do street photography all of a sudden while using film for the first time. Let's be honest here, a DSLR would get the job done far more easily if one is attempting street photography for the first time. 

Film is more than just street photography (contrary to popular belief). I just felt that this needed to be said. In fact, if one is using film for the first time, it might be more advisable to use it for landscapes and portraits instead. That is because you don't want to be fumbling around with your settings and your focusing on the streets. And you most certainly don't want to dial down your aperture to f/8 just to save time on focusing as you'll lose exposure and bokeh. With the convenience that DSLRs have brought us, it's no surprise that many (if not most) photographers have been using it on auto or aperture priority mode the whole time. Fun fact, I do use aperture priority some times when I'm lazy too, so I'm not bashing on them. What's worse than bringing a huge DSLR out to do street photography is holding a camera there and fumbling around with it as you miss shot after shot and end up making everyone around you uncomfortable as they discover your presence. I'm going off topic again, happens every post doesn't it?

So yes, I will never understand why anyone would spend so much money on the film and the developing of film on bad street photos (out of focus subjects, blurry photos, etc.) when one could take the time to shoot some decent portraits with it. You'll be developing the photos and will most likely be keeping it, why not shoot something worth keeping?

[I'm sorry if this seems to be a rant (nope not sorry at all), just wanted to put it out there. And I'm trying out a new font~]