Film Photography Offers a Touch of Vintage in the Modern Era
- audiwei123
- Jul 31, 2021
- 3 min read
AUDRIE TAN finds out how film photography has integrated into the lifestyle of some youths, imparting values throughout their journey.
Yang Yuetong, 18, a student from Hwa Chong Institution, vividly remembers bringing her film camera to school on her birthday this year to keep track of special moments with friends. To her, these are the moments worth capturing on film.
“I believe that these moments [with friends] are worth capturing [on] film because it brings a sense of nostalgia when I look back at it in the future,” she says.
According to The Spruce Crafts, the constant purchase and development of film rolls required and the fact that film images can only be seen after they are developed are disadvantages of film cameras.
However, even with these limitations, Yuetong says that it’s part of her identity as she’s known among her friends and family for her habit of bringing her film camera around as an essential item, very like her mobile phone.
According to a Times article published in 2017, film photography has been a rising trend among youths since 2017 as film companies like Harman have been seeing a “film growth of 5 per cent worldwide annually.
Mr Goh Rhay Gynn, 24, the founder of Filem.sg, a store specialising in film cameras and processing, attests to this trend as 90 per cent of his customers are youths aged 25 and below as mentioned in his previous Vulcan Post interview.
The number of stores selling film equipment is also increasing, especially on social media. By observation, when ‘film’ is searched on Instagram, many local film stores like Film Thrills, Filem.Sg and Handsonfilm are recommended.
Mr Daniel Ong, 24, co-founder of Handsonfilm, says, “There is a certain type of nostalgia that film has which digital is unable to recreate.”
However, it’s simply more than the aesthetics.
Some youths are bringing this trend to the next level by integrating it into their lifestyle. These youths view film photography as self-expression and an activity they can learn values like patience and acceptance from.
“It teaches me patience and slowed down my thought process so I can focus on creating better images rather than thoughtless digital photos,” says Ms Kathlyn Teh, 23, co-founder of Handsonfilm and an experienced film photographer.
“Film teaches us how to accept our flaws and always learn from our mistakes,” Ms Teh says. Unlike digital photos, “we can’t fix everything in post” for film photography, making each picture unique and precious.
However, having their film cameras with them doesn't mean that they will take photos every day. The time it takes to finish one film roll consisting of 36 exposures ranges from days to even a year because youths make sure to use each film wisely.
“I usually shoot a roll over a year so having them developed, memories still feel as fresh as when I first took the photos,” says Ms Teh.
Mr Goh, who’s been shooting film for seven years, brings his film camera even when doing simple activities like buying food, because “you never know when you’ll get nice shots”.
“It's made me more creative and inquisitive as a person,” he says.
“I would like ask random people, “Eh, uncle you want take a photo?” There's a lot of instances where people don't want you to take their photo, especially in Singapore, but I've learnt to deal with this rejection,” Mr Goh says.
Mr Goh has spent about $50,000 buying film cameras and has even made a career out of film.
For Yuetong, school has become quite “mundane” because of the repetitiveness of lessons, school work and the lack of events due to social distancing measures.
Like others, she might be experiencing ‘pandemic fatigue’ but film photography has taught her to “be thankful for every little thing in life” and appreciate the people around her. She brings her film camera with her, especially to school, to motivate herself to “continue working hard in life” and make school more interesting.
“I hope that capturing [moments in school with] film will bring more colour into my life as well as other people like my classmates too!” says Yuetong.
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