Why I Take Photos with a Camera

 

I first picked up a camera in the summer of 1976. It was a robust, all-metal machine which only needed a single-cell battery to power the through-the-lens (TTL), "match needle" lightmeter. It had a complement of lenses but I mostly used the 50mm 1:1.4 and ASA (ISO) 400 film because it did not come with a flash. The camera belonged to the company my father worked for and he would bring it home on weekends just so I can play around with it. My first few rolls were mediocre since I had yet to master using the TTL meter. 

It did not take long and I was already enjoying taking available light photos, making do with a "50" and its wide aperture. My Papa also taught me the "Rule of Thirds" and the finer points of composition which further improved my work. 

While in high school, my aunt built a darkroom where she could process black and white photos taken with her Rolleiflex twin lens reflex (TLR) and a 35mm "Canonet" rangefinder. It was then that I discovered the magic of photofinishing and printing and I would love photography even more.

But my photography would go on hiatus for a few years until a friend asked me to take photos of her sister's wedding. It was 1986 and this would be my very first, "professional" gig.

It was not until 1990 when I finally bought a camera of my own--a secondhand, Nikon F-501 which was one of the first "autofocus" cameras at the time. It also had an integral motor drive which wound the film to the next shot at a very slow, 2-frames per second. Although the film was wound automatically, one still had to rewind manually after the last frame was exposed.

That camera would serve me for the next 16 years until photography finally went digital and I had to let go of the "35s" for literally dirt cheap becuase no one wanted analog cameras anymore!

Having started my career with a fully-mechanical camera, I've learned to take photos instinctively. I knew from the moment before I tripped the shutter that I would either have a good or bad shot. Strangely, film was easier to work with once you knew how it behaved depending on lighting conditions. 

Having shot analog most of my life, I was never detached from the process. My eyes, my hands and my mind were always in each frame, as if driving a car or rowing a boat. Taking a photo was a matter of personal involvement with your eye one the viewfinder and fingers on the knobs and cranking film.

When photography went digital, I felt significantly detached. I sorely missed the smell of a freshly opened can of 135 film, the feel of cocking the shutter, and tweaking the aperture and shutter speed dials. Practically the only tactile control on the DSLR was the shutter button and not much else.

At the very least, old DSLRs were big and heavy and if not for the lack of tactile controls, gave the photographer some significance. A DSLR distinguished a professional photographer from the crowd and the point-and-shoot or "idiot cameras" were for mere spectators. 

Despite the substitution of dials and levers with buttons, the preoccupation with setting exposure and performing other essential tasks to get the desired final image is the trademark of a consumate professional or an enthusiast who is passionate about the craft. Just like painting, weaving and music, photography is about using one's hands like a painter must learn to use a brush or a musician must know how to play a piano or guitar. This is where the physical connection between artist and the instrument lies.

Even today, photojournalists and other professional photographers still prefer the heavy DSLRs if only to "look" the part. 

Unlike today's young photographers who talk about film and mechanical cameras like they were an authority, guys like me actually lived those days when photoshops were everywhere and film could be bought even at a drugstore or the supermarket check out counters. Back then, we were in a pressure cooker, hoping to get our negatives as fast as we could dump expended rolls into our Domke bags for fear of losing a "scoop" or missing a deadline. 

They may know about film and analog photography but their knowledge is superficial at best. It took us decades to master our craft and for a working professional to shoot an analog camera in the digital age is simply impractical. Kids these days can afford to shoot analog because they're not on a clock, period!