Those who were born anytime before 2001, would remember purchasing your film, taking photographs, waiting for the photo shop to open, submitting your film, paying your deposit and waiting the mandatory time (3 to 5 days depending on which country you lived in) to come back for your prints. 

I remember using all my “pocket money” to buy my film and develop my photos.  I secretly wished that I had my own dark room.  

In the early 2000’s small digital cameras became accessible and I happily purchased my first one.  On beach holiday with some friends we were taking photos, and one of my friend’s nieces, said to her aunt, “Auntie, lemme see, lemme see”, her Auntie responded, “sorry you can’t”, and explained to her niece that her camera was not digital.  We all laughed at the fact that our friend had not gone digital.  At that point I saw the perplexed look on a seven-year-old’s face, as she did not understand that you could not preview the photo after it was taken; she only knew of digital cameras. 

By 2005, many persons were purchasing digital cameras in preference to film cameras.  This gave rise to new film editing software, often not written by camera makers, which led to the down scale and subsequent closure of many photography stores.  The closure of most of these stores was also accelerated by the ability to purchase digital cameras online via websites, such as Amazon.

Kodak, formerly one of the world’s leading photographic film products, announced that it would cease selling Kodachrome color film by the end of 2009, ending 74 years of production, after a dramatic decline in sales primarily due to the rise of digital photography.

The advancement of digital photography has allowed to me pursue my hobby, and to self-brand as a “semi-professional photographer”.  I have also met many persons who have stated that if it was not for digital cameras they could not have afforded to venture into photography.  On the other hand I have met some “old school photographers” who did not make the move the digital and have given up on their hobby as continuing with film would have been prohibitive, and in some cases virtually impossible based on the countries they lived in. 

There are many persons who still shoot film and will develop their own work.  I think that photographs that are shot on film have a particular look, which digital prints often do not have.  My dream is to set up my personal dark room where I can develop/process my own film.  Of course to fulfill this dream would be dependent on where I am based, as the dark room supplies are not readily available in every country.  For now I would have to stick with my trusty Mac Book Pro, with Aperture, and Adobe Lightroom.

Forward now to 2015, and I take photos of on my phone and my digital camera and show my friend’s children on my iPad or laptop.  I smile cause they will never know what it is to purchase film, take photos, and wait 3 to 5 days to see the results, and sometimes not likely the results and wishing there was a do over.