Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
New work (3 hours per day commute), dog (two hours per day outside) have me stopped using bw film and dr printing.
Also my wife asking me to vacate basement bathroom and else basement spaces my darkroom is using. Basement is loaded with things we don't use.
And I don't travel for work anymore, this was how I was taking those street film images, before/after work on remote locations.
With K-3 III Monochrome release I was going to sell two film Leica and my DR equipment, materials to recover some cost of K-3 III Monochrome.
But today my daughter (used to be photog for night clubs) send me message how photog she knows likes my bw film photos. Not a first time to receive this reaction.
Realistically, if I have free time I'd rather hike, bike and longboard. Also can't do late night DR printing anymore. Need to sleep.
Photog my daughter knows is asking to get me on Instagram. To be honest, I don't think it is matter film or digital on Instagram view engine, rather than statement.
She likes these from my film days:
So, maybe I'll keep 8x10 darkroom paper and try to learn digital negatives. Less time due to film developing.
Also my wife asking me to vacate basement bathroom and else basement spaces my darkroom is using. Basement is loaded with things we don't use.
And I don't travel for work anymore, this was how I was taking those street film images, before/after work on remote locations.
With K-3 III Monochrome release I was going to sell two film Leica and my DR equipment, materials to recover some cost of K-3 III Monochrome.
But today my daughter (used to be photog for night clubs) send me message how photog she knows likes my bw film photos. Not a first time to receive this reaction.
Realistically, if I have free time I'd rather hike, bike and longboard. Also can't do late night DR printing anymore. Need to sleep.
Photog my daughter knows is asking to get me on Instagram. To be honest, I don't think it is matter film or digital on Instagram view engine, rather than statement.
She likes these from my film days:
So, maybe I'll keep 8x10 darkroom paper and try to learn digital negatives. Less time due to film developing.
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
Kostya, do you miss shooting, developing, and printing film? If so, why not keep your gear until you do have time. We all go through dry spells, and usually we return to it sooner or later. I'm keeping my stuff!
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
To be honest... with day to day things I have listed... I have not.
I was going to Moscow in January, was thinking film, but I remember how long it took me to print it from 2016, I went with digital.
Guth
Appreciative User
I believe that I previously made the effort to send you a PM complimenting you on the images you created for the thread you titled "Hamilton as I know it. Ontario". Those images struck me as very well captured, and perhaps more importantly, they definitely evoked a number of emotions in me as I spent time looking at them. I don't believe that you used your film cameras to create the images featured in that thread. While I personally like to see film cameras still being used for reasons of my own, at the end of the day I believe that it is the images that matter most. Though I do shoot film, I do not have a darkroom. There are times when I think about making the effort to set one up, but the reality is that I've yet to do so.
In my opinion the main reason to hang on to a piece of gear is because you still enjoy using it (even if you haven't done so in a while). Making such decisions today as it relates to film gear is a bit more difficult given that so much of this equipment is appreciating. (If we sell such gear, we might not be able to afford to buy it back once again should we change our minds.) If you can afford to hang on to it then that would seem like the thing to do. However, if using your film cameras no longer brings you enjoyment like they once did and you don't see yourself wanting to use them again, then I can understand the temptation to sell them and put that money into another tool that would better suit you at this point in time. Living for today obviously has its own benefits. no one knows what tomorrow might bring. Good luck with your decision.
In my opinion the main reason to hang on to a piece of gear is because you still enjoy using it (even if you haven't done so in a while). Making such decisions today as it relates to film gear is a bit more difficult given that so much of this equipment is appreciating. (If we sell such gear, we might not be able to afford to buy it back once again should we change our minds.) If you can afford to hang on to it then that would seem like the thing to do. However, if using your film cameras no longer brings you enjoyment like they once did and you don't see yourself wanting to use them again, then I can understand the temptation to sell them and put that money into another tool that would better suit you at this point in time. Living for today obviously has its own benefits. no one knows what tomorrow might bring. Good luck with your decision.
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
I am in a similar situation to yours regarding my darkroom - it has been sitting there and haven't used it since the pandemic. At times I am thinking to sell it and then I change my mind. The amount of rubbish we have accumulated in our basement over the years is beyond belief.
Freakscene
Obscure member
New work (3 hours per day commute), dog (two hours per day outside) have me stopped using bw film and dr printing.
Also my wife asking me to vacate basement bathroom and else basement spaces my darkroom is using. Basement is loaded with things we don't use.
And I don't travel for work anymore, this was how I was taking those street film images, before/after work on remote locations.
With K-3 III Monochrome release I was going to sell two film Leica and my DR equipment, materials to recover some cost of K-3 III Monochrome.
But today my daughter (used to be photog for night clubs) send me message how photog she knows likes my bw film photos. Not a first time to receive this reaction.
Realistically, if I have free time I'd rather hike, bike and longboard. Also can't do late night DR printing anymore. Need to sleep.
Photog my daughter knows is asking to get me on Instagram. To be honest, I don't think it is matter film or digital on Instagram view engine, rather than statement.
She likes these from my film days:
So, maybe I'll keep 8x10 darkroom paper and try to learn digital negatives. Less time due to film developing.
@Ko.Fe. your photos are great - you show things in a way that reveal what people and places are like. This is rare, and to me the telling is very worthwhile. I am sure you can figure out how to print your photos well however you take them.
I print digital B&W from my digital cameras by contact on Adox Lupex. It is a learning curve, but the huge advantage is that once you get your inkjet negatives right, you can make as many prints as you want with great consistency. And contact prints on Lupex look fantastic.
Out to Lunch
Menteur
Congrats on the new job!
pixie79
Member
Yesterday I developed a HP5+ in Blazinal. Looking at the film washing, I was magic. Digital faster, better and less fun.
Richard G
Mentor
Daughters drive so much of their fathers' lives. She seems a good influence.
oldwino
Well-known
All the time you save will be used up trying to learn how to make decent digital negatives.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Well, I'm not darkroom master printer or one hour photo technician, either. Even after ten years in DR I can't do it in bang-bang-bang mode.All the time you save will be used up trying to learn how to make decent digital negatives.
To get a more less OK DR print I have to try and throw three sheets at least
I remember how someone posted link to one person blog in Turkey, each blog entry was about getting one print done. I went this way
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
That is a good night scene and portrait - they‘re enjoyable to look at. Until you mentioned it, I wouldn’t know it was film. The image itself is what I like.
But, you should choose the camera and gear that is most enjoyable for you.
But, you should choose the camera and gear that is most enjoyable for you.
kram
Well-known
Keep your film stuff. Get rid of other stuff in th basement. My ex wife wife was very good at tell me to get rid of my stuff, but not so good of getting rid of her stuff. Is there any stuff to in your mind, your wife needs to let go of?
robert blu
quiet photographer
Kostya, I always like your photos. And never ask my self which camera did you use, if digital or film.
canuck2022
Newbie
Nature cleaned up my cluttered basement. Had a flood and ended up with about 20 inches of water and believe me, everything was floating, even the chest freezers.
cboy
Well-known
Life and priorities. I never had a full darkroom at home (even though i had an enlarger) but went the digital route and processed film at home then scanned using an Epson v700. When fully switched to digital i sold all my film bodies but kept the film gear/processing if ever my son might take up film photography in school, which was when I first started during university.
Luckily the OP didn't sell his film gear 😄
Luckily the OP didn't sell his film gear 😄
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Was there a question in the OP's statements?
If you like to do photography, if you want to do photography, you find a way and do it. Film or digital is irrelevant, scan and photoshop or darkroom print is irrelevant: it's all photography if you're recording light and making the recordings into images. There are always limitations and constraints on what we do ... time, cost, effort, space, etc. If you like and want to do something, you find a way that satisfies you, at least in part anyway.
So if you no longer have the time and cannot make the extraordinary effort to do what you've done in the past, and you still like and want to do photography, you find a way to do it within the constraints of the present time. If you don't like it enough to do it instead of hiking, biking, and longboarding—and your ability to earn an income does not require it—then go on to do that other stuff and put photography down until it again has priority in your mind and heart once more.
That's all.
G
If you like to do photography, if you want to do photography, you find a way and do it. Film or digital is irrelevant, scan and photoshop or darkroom print is irrelevant: it's all photography if you're recording light and making the recordings into images. There are always limitations and constraints on what we do ... time, cost, effort, space, etc. If you like and want to do something, you find a way that satisfies you, at least in part anyway.
So if you no longer have the time and cannot make the extraordinary effort to do what you've done in the past, and you still like and want to do photography, you find a way to do it within the constraints of the present time. If you don't like it enough to do it instead of hiking, biking, and longboarding—and your ability to earn an income does not require it—then go on to do that other stuff and put photography down until it again has priority in your mind and heart once more.
That's all.
G
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
I started with parents FED-2, my family got EOS 300. No intention to sell those. And another cameras inherited, given from close to us people.
But from 2012 to 2021 I went through several dozens of film cameras and sold. I'm about to sell two film Leica cameras to cover portion of K-3 IIIM cost.
Evergreen States
Pierre Saget (they/them)
Kostya, I think your corpus, both film and digital together, is extraordinary. I hope that it's seen and valued by future generations as a document of an immigrant in the GTA in the 2010s and 2020s.
I've spent hours going over your Flickr stream to study composition and timing and how you fill the frame with wide angle lenses. You've done some seriously great work with your GR that's perfectly of a piece with your film photos. I don't imagine your work will suffer if you give up film altogether.
I think you'd do fine on Instagram so long as you maintain a healthy relationship with it. A lot of us from RFF are on there.
I've spent hours going over your Flickr stream to study composition and timing and how you fill the frame with wide angle lenses. You've done some seriously great work with your GR that's perfectly of a piece with your film photos. I don't imagine your work will suffer if you give up film altogether.
I think you'd do fine on Instagram so long as you maintain a healthy relationship with it. A lot of us from RFF are on there.
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
Those 3 hours commuting per day....you won't get those back.
Ask me how I know.
Ask me how I know.