For today’s Tried and Tested Thursday is a bit different today, I will be talking about the film that hasn’t been processed yet.
The start of 2022 has been a bit lukewarm, still in a pandemic with some uncertainties and some determination.
2021 wasn’t a huge year for film, especially those I had shot with. In fact, I probably processed less film than the previous years, from the pre-Covid era of 2019 and 2018. Although last year, I did buy a few more cameras, including the Olympus Trip and a vintage Kodak Brownie. The novelty soon wore off, then from there I haven’t done much film photography as much as I wanted to.
I have bags and containers of film in my room, hoping to get processed at some point. In a separate container, I have around four Black and White 35mm rolls, which I would like to develop myself at home. Though I still need to buy the processing kit, including the developer and the essential equipment.
My motivation throughout last year has been up and down. There were times when I had very little inspiration to do almost everything; I was severely burned out from the long shifts at work, one of the main factors. All I wanted to do after work was to sleep and then eat, even on the rare days off. I had ideas in my head, but they were hardly materialised onto paper. I had chances to do so many things and activities, but they never happened.
For me film is like that. Finding the motivation to pick up the camera, or even scan a few negatives, or search for ideas and inspiration online. Sometimes I would look at my growing film collection in the drawer – admire it, then shut it back up again and again.
2021 was also the year I bought less film. It wasn’t until towards the end of December, I began to make big film orders during and after the Christmas period. This gave me the chance to get hold of some Kodak film before the prices went up. The price hike has made me reconsider my interest in film, whether it’s worth buying more whenever possible, or completely going digital? Maybe that should be a topic for another post.
Usually with these Tried and Tested posts, there would be an end result or a solution. Technically there are a few suggestions, I can think of: probably get my film and negatives organised, figure out a plan or system on what I want to do with them – for example, get them developed, printed or scanned. I’m sure there are some rolls that don’t need to be developed ASAP, or negatives that I don’t want to be scanned, although I’m often curious to see the potential outcome.
Whatever I eventually decide, I’ll make sure that I stick to the plan, keeping everything consistent and structured. I really want to continue film photography this year, also trying out other things. Losing inspiration and motivation isn’t the best feeling ever, and often at times it can drag you down.
As repetitive as it may sound, let’s hope 2022 will be a fairer and kinder year for us all…
Take care and stay safe
Photographic Jannine 
Definitely a lot of food for thought in this post, Jannine. Thank you for posting.
How easy is it for you to get film processed? I’m lucky that I live in a city (Portland) that has multiple film finishers, and two of them are convenient for me to regularly visit. So I usually drop off film once a week. I can imagine for those who need to send film out this might not happen as regularly, which can lead to a backlog of undeveloped rolls, and the bigger the backlog gets, the more intimidating it becomes. I’ve seen this with a few other bloggers and people on Instagram.
Yeah, the price hikes are not fun. I’m still going to stick with film, as the whole process of shooting film (something I talked about in my blog today) is a big factor for me. https://urbanadventureleague.wordpress.com/2022/01/06/photography-as-therapy/
I wasn’t that excited about shooting digital in the last decade. And to get a “decent” digital camera that would suit my needs would be a bit more than I want to pay right now. And yes, I realize that I shot a lot of film last year, enough that could pay for a nicer digital. But it’s not always about logic. 😉
Good luck on home development. I’ve been wanting to do it as well, just haven’t had the motivation. I’m hoping to start soon…
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Thanks for your comment, and apologies for the late response back!!
I live in London, so I am lucky to go to my usual place to develop my film. I am currently going through the rolls that need to be developed in the next coming weeks: four rolls at a time, since this is an expensive process.
The constant price hikes of film has made me reconsider on what I need to buy, what can last me for this year and beyond. Digital is the only alternative, but I am only relying on my Samsung phone for now until I can save enough to buy a decent digital bridge or mirrorless camera. Digital is less demanding than film; the workload is faster and better with digital in comparison to film
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True, digital is less demanding and faster, but there’s something about the process of film photography that keeps me with it. And I like the results. I can still afford the film and developing, but if that was an issue I might reconsider.
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