WHILE MOST of us think digital images when it comes to photography, there is a growing trend among the younger generation to re-embrace the age of the film camera.
Nowadays, whether it be for a wedding or maternity photography Portland (or elsewhere), people who want to record a few memorable moments in their lives frequently wind up searching for specialists like Wade Kelleher.
The Weekly caught up with veteran photography expert Wade Kelleher of Wade’s World to find out what is driving this trend back to vintage cameras.
“We’ve recently moved location to Coolangatta and it’s a much younger area and we are finding a lot of the youngsters are getting into film,” Mr Kelleher said.
“What’s happening is they are looking at mum and dad’s photos and wondering why they are so good and are realising it’s because they had a good camera and they had film.”
As one of the few businesses that specialises in not only digital but film photography, Mr Kelleher said they are at the forefront of this growing niche market.
“There’s a lot of growth in that area area and we’ve always been involved in film but now there are very few of us left around that do that,” he said.
“The amount of film being used in Australia over the past four years has had a 50 per cent year on year growth,” he said.
“There’s a huge movement back into classical photography and we’ve got to the point now where we are seeing a lot of young people coming in with cameras, they’ve bought in garage sales that are no good.
“As a result, we are now buying second hand cameras from the USA and we are selling those to customers fully serviced so they know they are working.”
Photographs and portraits have become more prevalent in almost every sector, creating a sudden surge in photography enthusiasts. Today, people hire professional photographers for business purposes, weddings, and even LinkedIn profiles (e.g. Vancouver Headshot Photographer).
The requirement for film cameras seems to be as high as the demand for digital cameras. Despite the demand, there is no move by major camera companies to come back on board with producing new film cameras.
“You can’t buy them new anymore,” said Mr Kelleher.
“We’ve even approached people like Pentax to see if they could do a small run of 1,000 cameras, but they told us they can’t do it anymore.
“They used to use a lot of lead to give cameras a feeling of quality and solidity and that’s just a no no nowadays.”
For a generation used to shooting digital photography, however, there is a steep learning curve for budding film photographers.
Nevertheless, with the advent of the internet and the availability of many photography courses online, budding photographers may find the steep learning curve easier to overcome. Moreover, they can seek inspiration from the works of professional photographers and videographers – for instance, from an event videographer orlando, or wherever they are based.
“I’m seeing younger people using their phone to shoot lesser quality photos but when they are wanting to be creative, they are choosing film cameras.
“Film forces you into selective judgement as you can’t take hundreds of photos like you can with digital.
“When people ask me for hints with using film, I often tell them to simply stop and have a look at what they are taking a photo of or to turn around and look behind them. Even just moving a little to the left or the right can help in the selection of that perfect shot.”
While film cameras are on trend, Mr Kelleher said that when it comes to developing, Photoshop was unlikely to be replaced by dark rooms by photographers wanting to enhance their pictures. This tool is beneficial for all kinds of photographers (be it wedding or maternity photographer San Antonio, or elsewhere), and editing all types of photos taken in different light settings.
“I started off as a dark room expert and I was doing a lot of things that people now do with Photoshop such as combining of images, template overlays, custom printing and changing exposures.
“These days with Photoshop however, it’s much faster and easier and I can do in ten minutes what would have been an eight-hour process.”
The company also develops film, a process which Mr Kelleher said is more hands on than some customers think.
“Back when most photos were developed from film, people were under the impression that people didn’t look at the photos, but you had to see what you were printing – that was part of the process.”
“As a result, if we had young girls working for us we would conscientiously shield them if we realised the photos were too risque and we would call on somebody else to do the printing.
“There is much less of that nowadays because of digital photography we’re not as exposed to those sorts of photos as we used to be.
“There was no law per se in the industry regarding photos that we developed but I had a conscientious rule that if it got to a point that I thought the photos were abusive or child offending we would pass them on to police as I think it’s important we live in a nice society.”
Mr Kelleher said he was first introduced to photography by his grandmothers who were both photographers.
“I’ve been in photography since I was little, I started working late nights and weekends after school in a photostore and then began working at Fletchers Photographics 24 years ago.
“I went on to own the company and we renamed it Wades World around 12 years ago.
“I love what I’m doing, it’s a fun job and that’s what it’s all about for me.”
Wades World are now located at 23B Griffith Street Coolangatta and their services include film developing, digital printing, photos to CD, canvas printing, enlargements, passport photos, photo restoration, camera repairs and large format printing.
For more information visit www.wadesworld.com.au