35mm film
Film Photography for Weddings
“Digital photography is science, film photography is a chemical miracle.”
– Steven Spielberg
These are impressions of light. Moments burnt into 35mm film windows. They’re quite literally, the dust of your memories.
What is film photography?
35mm film photography is a lost art in an instant world. What once was the modus operand is now a niche done badly.
Before the age of digital cameras, film photography was the only method of capturing images. There’s a good chance that your parents’ wedding photos were still taken on film. Taking a photo involved exposing a tiny 35mm strip of paper coated by special chemicals to light. What happened next, was something magical. The light would react to these chemicals and burn an impression into the strip, making an image. These strips were then developed in dark rooms, and large prints were made. Today, at this point in the process we use special scanners to digitize these developed strips into the images we’re familiar with.
In general, each roll of film had space for about 36 shots. However, each company had their own blend of special chemicals. This resulted in different looks, colours and grain structure depending on what brand you bought. For example, some 35mm film stocks favour greens or produce warmer tones, some have finer grain for clearer images and some are more light sensitive than others. Today, you’ll still fine a huge range of stocks, each unique and distinct from the other.
Why should you consider 35mm film for your wedding?
The momentousness of a wedding day deserves a deeper level of artistic commitment and technical ability – and film photography is that in a nutshell. It masterfully captures light, colour and texture in ways digital cannot replicate. Trust me, I’ve tried. When people see film images they describe them as mysteriously authentic. The medium demands intentionality from the photographer in ways digital skips over.
It is worth noting that film photography requires experience. It is very different to digital – it can be unforgiving and an expensive waste if not done well. So picking a photographer who is comfortable and well versed in this lost craft is essential if you want to include it on your special day.
My approach to film at weddings.
I’ve been lucky enough to come from a family that’s always been crazy about film. Obsessing over the right light, method and film stock is a common conversation. Family holidays typically involve film photoshoots, and on our travel holidays we only shoot film.
When it comes to weddings, I prefer taking a more calculated approach. Not all environments are conducive to 35mm, and I want to give you quality work. So I focus on digital, and then go for a film shot when I know it’s going to work. My favourite 35mm film stocks for weddings are anything in the Kodak Porta range for their skin tones, Ultramax for it’s blue shimmer and then Ilford delta for it’s grain on black and white.
