Last week I happened upon a marvelous film entitled Don McCullin – Looking for England. Made this year, it takes us on a tour with McCullin through his old photographic stomping grounds and other fascinating locations to make pictures. It also brings us into the sanctuary of his darkroom to watch him print. At 83, McCullin is one of the great living photographers and he is still passionate about black and white film and the silver print.

The film is truly inspirational. I came away from it not only learning about how the man works, but perhaps more importantly I gained an understanding of what has enabled him to truly live a full and active photographic life into his eighties.  To illustrate this I thought I would share some notable things McCullin says as we follow him from place to place.

“I use photography to find myself in this world.”

“Photography has given me not so much an education, but a lifetime’s experience.”

I couldn’t agree more or say it any it any better, even though I have written about my own similar feelings several times here.

Thank you Don McCullin for all the great pictures and stories you have given us over these many years … and thank you for sharing in words how to live a truly photographic life.

So set aside hour when you won’t be interrupted and watch this great film. You can find it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOTedHe-_lg

Enjoy!

A friend and reader of this site sent me an article written by Stan Horaczek that was recently published on Popular Photography’s website entitled Films Worth Shooting With Before They’re Gone. The tag line read “Give your digital camera a break and shoot these rolls while while you still have the opportunity”. The article goes on to state:

“Film photography is not dead. Although a few years ago it was hurting, with old film stocks being lost every couple of months, but in the last few years there has been a resurgence of new film stocks hitting the market and a companies bringing back once discontinued films. Although the remaining selection is a small fraction of what we once had, there are still plenty of films out there worth loading into a camera. The second hand film camera market is also having a bit of a revival. But who knows what the future holds?  We’ve put together a collection of films you might want to try while you still can.”

How’s that for a good news/bad news story? Come on. No need to be a Debbie Downer here! While there is no doubt we have lost some great films as a result of the digital onslaught … Plus-X, Pan-X, Verichrome Pan to name a few … we are very lucky and still have a large number of wonderful films such as Tri-X that we can use in confidence (not to mention a great selection of tremendous papers to print them on and all the chemistry you will ever need!). A number of them are mentioned in this article – both black and white and color.

Like vinyl, film is back. A small amount of film cameras are still being manufactured and a number of vintage camera models have seen their prices steadily rise on the used market. Thankfully many can still be had at bargain prices and their use is helping to feeding the film resurgence.

So I am happy to see this article but the sense of it is almost like hey, we’re all digital users, but once in awhile it’s fun to try something more old word and charming.  I have run into a number of photographers that still print digitally but have given up on digital capture completely. They love the experience and love the look of film. Think Tri-X. I have met others that have come back to analog completely.

Look, film is not going anywhere and there is an abundance of cameras to use them … believe me, I know! Maybe what we really need is an article that discusses using your mobile phone to snap a picture when you are out an about and don’t have your film camera with you!

On Saturday I spent a good chunk of the day in my darkroom catching up on the large number of rolls of film that had been sitting on my worktable waiting to be developed.   The last roll was made a week ago.  Before I got started the phone rang – it was my friend Tom calling from Ohio to let me know that it was National Camera Day. He heard about it while watching the Weather Channel.

Thanks Tom! But wait, there’s more – after a little research I found out that June 29^this truly special – not only is it National Camera Day, but it is also National Almond Buttercrunch Day as well as National Waffle Iron Day!

Yes, the trifecta!

I make a real effort with these writings not to dwell on picture making gear but as I have previously admitted … damn it I love cameras, especially the older fully manual mechanical ones. I enjoy and appreciate the tactile pleasure, the craftsmanship and feeling that they transport me to another time when I use them. In short, I love everything about them. But, what it most important is that they enable me to make photographs.  Of course any camera can make a good picture. Maybe some are more fun to use, or maybe built better, or have more features. Who cares! The point is grab whatever you own, dust it off if it hasn’t been used in awhile and make some photographs … in belated honor of National Camera Day. Maybe you might even decide to make some interesting photographs of almond buttercrunch, or waffle irons.  Maybe this will be the beginning of a whole new creative phase!  Maybe by next year’s National Camera Day you will have used your trusty old/new friend to create some work that you are truly proud of! Your immediate reward will be that you got out there, had some fun, maybe got a keeper and can now have some tasty waffles (I like mine with butter and syrup) and great candy bar (my wife loves Butterfingers) for a treat! The long-term rewards will be more profound.

So mark June 29^thon your calendar for next year, set some goals and see what you have accomplished when you get there!

Hot on the heals of the Fuji Acros announcement I get a nice email from Dave Gooding, who runs DLG Electronics in the UK. You may remember last year he kindly offered my readers a 10% introductory discount on their new Compensating Development Timer. Now he’s back with another great offer!  Here is what Dave sent me:

“Michael,

If you are interested we are now producing a brand new enlarger timer. This is designed as a no-nonsense and robust, yet fully-featured unit with switched outputs for enlarger and safelight. Timing 0-99s at 0.1s resolution or 0-999s at 1s resolution.

It was your latest blog post on film photography being very much alive that reminded me to let you know.

https://www.dlgelectronics.com/enlarger_timer.html

I will provide the same 10% discount to your readers if you think this is of interest. Free shipping in UK, EU and Australia.

There’s also a US version with US-style outlet sockets marketed under the CatLABS brand.

https://www.catlabs.info/product/cet01

I hope this is of interest!

Dave Gooding

DLG Electronics

david.gooding@dlgelectronics.com

Thanks Dave for another generous offer for our readers!  But more importantly, thank you for designing and manufacturing important new products for today’s darkroom enthusiasts!

Together, with the recent Acros announcement, this is further proof that black and white analog photography is indeed alive and well. Even some of my dedicated digital user students are dusting offer their old 35mm film cameras and jumping into the pool!

Far from gloom and doom, these are exciting times for all of us!

As I write this I am sitting next to my flashlight in a completely darkened house. Care of a tremendous flash storm and possible tornado that blew through Doylestown. I seriously think the electric grid here may be surpassed by anything else anywhere.  My neighbors on either side of our house have built in generators, but despite another round of !#$%@#$^# from my wife, I can’t bring myself to spend the eight grand to have one installed. Sort of like paying more money every month to the cable company. There aren’t too many things you can get done without power, so thanks to my ancient laptop’s fully charged battery I am writing this entry!

So while I was brushing my teeth by candlelight a thought came through my head. I’ve touched upon it several times before. There is so much more for me than just going out and making the photograph. It’s the entire experience … the journey itself.  Even if you don’t get any keepers when you’re out there, or don’t even make a single exposure.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my participation in the first Annual Photo Arts Xchange (PaX).  As I said, it was truly a wonderful experience. But now it has become much more. That’s because about a week or so ago I started calling a number of participants I met during the event. Now that I’ve spoken to almost all them I’m hoping to develop some lasting friendships with some great people that also happen to be fine photographers. That they’re wonderful photographers is a fat juicy bonus!

I enjoyed our conversations at PaX, but liked the follow-up calls just as much. And just the other day a received a very nice post card from one of my newly found friends.  That’s right … a real live hand written post card delivered to me by mail! That really says something to me!  I mean, I can’t remember the last time I received a hand written note from anyone other than a holiday card or the letters I get from one of my older relatives who doesn’t own a computer.

These people are all dedicated photographers – dedicated to their vision and to their craft – but they also are great people. I am hoping to stay in touch with them and perhaps even get together sometime to photograph.  A couple hours drive each way is a small price to pay for something that could be worthwhile and lasting.

When I worked in Washington, DC the saying went “If you want a friend get a dog”.  Well I had three dogs while living in the DC area and to be honest they were much better friends than most that I came across in my working and social life. I am always looking to meet good people. If they love photography as much as I do so much the better!  It really helps in today’s toxic environment.  But I know they’re out there … because I have just met some!