I never thought I would have to write a piece like this one. Still, with the rise of generative AI software, sorry, plagiarism software, there has been some interesting talk online about how many bloggers within the film photography realm have started turning over the hard work of writing reviews to things like ChatGPT. And while I know that some people are, the people I closely interact with all ‘do their own stunts.’ But people love having proof, so today, I will walk you through how I create a full camera review from start to finish, using a review I wrote on the Nikkormat FT2,Read More →

When it comes to the wider world of the film photography community, there has been an extraordinary explosion in content, especially within the realm of user-generated content, from wonderful groups on Flickr and Facebook to a vast collection of amazing blogs and podcasts. There is also an extensive collection of film photography content on YouTube. And a couple of years back, I ventured into this forum and found the format refreshing and a valued extension to my written content. But I have many channels as my favourites where I go to seek out inspiration, entertainment, and, of course, learning. So today, I wanted to shareRead More →

Over the previous year, I worked hard to expand my knowledge of black & white film developers and find myself down a deep rabbit hole. Some good, some meh. Some I didn’t care for or I found them to be too specialised for average use. And while I have several up for review later this year and you can check those out later, here are seven that have stood out in my head as worthy of using again and of getting you out of the rut of using the more vanilla developers like D-76/ID-11, HC-110/Ilfotec HC, and Rodinal. 1 – Adox FX-39 II Based onRead More →

And One of the most accessible hobbies and an art form is photography. And while some might say that photography isn’t art, that’s a subject for another issue altogether. If you’re wondering where this post came from, it was a sudden inspiration driving home from a photo trip and a series of posts that I had seen flying around some Facebook groups related to film photography. The trouble with the Internet is that everyone can spread their opinions around some are good and others are bad. But the one thing that I want to try and address in this post is the idea of gatekeeping.Read More →

Strangely enough, I caught the idea for today’s post by reading an article in the most recent edition of the Canadian Firearms Journal (May/June 2018). The article of course written about guns, this post is about cameras, though you do shoot with both. There is wisdom in the article, that can be applied to the traditional camera community. The article opens with a story, the author, Tyson Somerville, and a friend is out shooting, while Tyson’s gun is a well cared for, the gun being used by his friend is in rough shape. So as I sat in a local coffee shop waiting for aRead More →

That old film camera sitting up in your father’s closet, or in your grandfather’s dresser won’t make you a better photographer. It’s like a gas range won’t make you a better chef or a fountain pen improving your handwriting. These are things; a thing cannot make you better than you already are. In fact, they might even exacerbate the mistakes you make. Sure, using these might help you eventually, but there’s only one thing that will make you a better photographer, yourself. I’ve seen of late and even posted articles about these photographers who laud the film camera and how by only picking it upRead More →