I read a series of posts recently on a forum where a couple of photographers admitted that they still used film (and digital, too) and preferred film for the total experience it gave them.
One photographer then went on to say that the real pros would never switch to digital because there was something special about using film that you don’t get with using digital.
That is very true! However, it also reminded me of the time when word processors started becoming popular — and reading interviews after interviews where successful writers vowed they would never switch because there was something magical about hitting the typewriter keys, advancing to a new line, even changing paper that helped them think and weave words — an experience that they did not get from using a computer and a cheap word processor program.
However, today we don’t hear of any successful writers still using the typewriter — or complaining that they are a worse writer because of the word processor. The word processor has replaced the typewriter. Whether some of us like it or not, digital will eventually replace film.
It’s never easy to shift to a new medium (digital) once we have mastered the old one (film). Especially if we try very hard and find that we cannot be as good using the new as we are using the old. Or, we might simply prefer the old over the new.
Thankfully, good artistry is always recognized and valued whether it comes from film or digital, and there will probably always be a market (often, a very lucrative one) for excellent film photographs.
Many years from now, a new medium will exist to record images — and digital photographers would then be the ones vowing they will never change!