Scratching the surface: Chris Sisarich on the beauty of analogue film

I’ve always been an analogue fan.

When I discovered photography – digital didn’t exist. All we had was these mysterious little black canisters that went into the back of the camera.

When the roll of film was finished, we took the little canister into the darkroom for processing and that’s where the magic happened.

Film has an undeniable quality and look that digital just can’t replicate.

What I love about it is the beautifully soft tonal range and creamy whites.

I love that you’re limited to 35 frames and that you end up with all sorts of happy accidents which you don’t see until you’ve processed the film. Gritty, grainy and out of focus – it was these unintentional technical mis-haps that could create incredibly beautiful images.

From a technical aspect, you really had to have a proper understanding of light and the mechanics of a camera. Especially if you were a commercial photographer.

You couldn’t just point and shoot and rely on post-production to fix the exposure if you didn’t get it right. It was a beautiful combination of science and art.

It was the mystical process of capturing, developing and printing a photograph that I loved.

I still have a couple of super-fun film cameras on me at all times. The Olympus Mju-II and the Yashica T4 made famous by the infamous Terry Richardson.

To be fair, both are instamatic point and shoot film cameras and you don’t need any technical knowledge at all to enjoy using them.

Go and grab yourself one of these little gems and have a play – they’re pretty cheap on eBay these days. The analogue artist in you will be happy you did.