Reasons WHY I SHOOT WITH FILM - Part 1
Losing my Mum in my late 20's was the catalyst behind me coming back to film. I realised that there was nothing more important than those memories we made together and that the photographs my Dad had captured on film through my childhood and teenage years were an irreplaceable time capsule. They allowed me to keep her close by during the years since she left us.
I also knew that, of the millions of digital photographs I took afterwards, I don't have any of them out on display. They are all trapped on dusty old hard drives at the bottom of random desk drawers that despite my promises to myself that I'll get to looking at them 'one day' if I'm really honest, I doubt I ever will.
The wake up call for me, was trying to find some old digital footage of my Mum from just before she got ill. We went away for a week as a family, but over a decade on and I still haven't been able to find the files or look at any of the photos of us from that trip.
Our last holiday together doesn't exist any more and I don't ever want to lose a memory as important as that again.
print your photos
What memories do you have that are too precious to lose? Do you have them on the wall or in pride of place on the mantelpiece? Will you be able to find them in 10 years time or will they have disappeared into the mists of your social media timeline?
Film and physical photographs endure where digital may not. If you take one thing away from this, it is a plea to print your photos. Look at them often. Place them where you can see them every day and cherish them.
Because the memories matter.