Is there still a reason shooting analog?
When I was young, I always wanted a Hasselblad, but could never afford one. Some time ago I saw a huge amount of used 500 series Hasselblad at the photo mall in Shanghai, which brought back that long lasting desire. I decided to buy one, just to look at it, touch it and keep it as an exhibit in my shelf. Finally, I ended up with a fully functioning 500C.
Holding it in my hands and just listening to the deep sound of the moving mirror, when releasing the shutter, was really pleasing. But then, triggered by seeing more and more young people in Shanghai nowadays, using analog small film SLRs, I thought, why not buying a film and trying it out? Now I am partly back to analog photography, processing film and enjoying the different aesthetics of it. I process b/w film myself now again, like in the old days. However, also the digital world has its stake in this. I scan the negatives, remove the dust with Photoshop and do digital printing on baryta paper. It is just a lot easier and still preserves the analog nature of the image.
But is there still a reason, doing this? I think yes, when I look at the aestetics of the analog image. The grain looks totally different and it is a special pleasing aesthetic. But honestly, I am not sure if this is the same experience for those, who have not grown up with this technology. There is one areo of photography, where digital still cannot beat analog, and that is the large format photography. But this I will cover in a later post,