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‘Sometimes it’s good to let life, rather than software presets, do the choosing.’

do anything and everything, by

ourselves, wherever, whenever,

however we want – and without

any creative risk.

What shooting film these last

few months has got me to see is

not something visible. Rather, it

is the sense of something latent,

waiting to be revealed, not by

chemical means, but through

personal expression. In the past,

when I shot film, I sold my

photographs as artworks.

Making darkroom prints was

a labour-intensive process and

I produced a tiny number of

images a year; but with digital

I started to expose hundreds, if

not thousands, more pictures

yet I largely stopped printing

and I completely stopped

selling, and all for what? Yes,

shooting film has reminded me

how artistry and alchemy, and

a healthy dose of uncertainty,

are what it means to be

photographically complete

and alive.

The lesson? It’s time to get

back to producing and selling

my art. And who knows, the

first print I sell (if I sell) might

be one I shoot on the 5x4in

pinhole camera. Years ago, the

first ever platinum print I sold

was shot that way.

A SENSE OF CALM

Here I am calculating the exposure, including reciprocity failure for

the f/206 pinhole. By my calculations, I would have four minutes

to ‘meditate’ on the scene while the film exposed.

In contrast to this moment of calm, a year earlier I watched a friend

place his open camera bag on the rock in front of my pinhole camera

here, only to see its £10,000+ worth of digital camera contents tip

into the sea. There are advantages to a low-tech, low budget,

film approach.

© Ian Macilwain

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