Timeless Over Trendy: Film Photography Is Having a Moment. I’ve Been Here the Whole Time.

Film photography is everywhere right now. Couples are requesting it. Photographers are announcing it. Gear forums are buzzing about Portra 400 and expired Kodak and the particular magic of a camera that only gives you 36 frames.

I’ve been shooting on film since before most of those photographers picked up a camera.

I’m not saying that to be dismissive. The couples drawn to film right now are responding to something real — a hunger for images that feel honest, unhurried, and a little imperfect in the way that life actually is. That instinct is good. The aesthetic they’re chasing is worth chasing.

But here’s what I want couples to understand: that aesthetic isn’t the film. It’s the photographer.

Film taught me how to see. When you can’t spray and pray, when every frame costs you something, you learn to wait for the light to be right instead of fixing it in post. You learn to read a room before you raise the camera. You develop a tolerance for the image that almost works, and a trained eye for the one that does. Those aren’t habits you set down when you switched formats.

Early in my career, I did commercial work on 5×7 sheet film. Each frame was a deliberate, physical process — loading the holder, metering carefully, committing. And at the cost per sheet, you didn’t mess around. You learned fast that the image either happened in the camera or it didn’t happen at all. There was no safety net, no burst mode, no chimping. Just light, glass, and a decision.

These days, my primary work is digital, and my everyday camera handles the pace and unpredictability that weddings demand. But I also shoot with a medium format Pentax 645Z — a large, deliberate, somewhat intimidating piece of equipment that comes out for the images that deserve it. Family formals. The quiet artistic moments. Anywhere the situation allows me to slow down and let the camera do what medium format does: render light and tone in a way that’s closer to how the eye actually experiences a scene than most digital sensors manage.

When film comes back into fashion, I understand the appeal. What I’d gently push back on is the assumption that medium equals outcome. The photographers producing beautiful, timeless work right now — on film or off — are doing it because of how they were formed, not because of what they loaded into the camera.

If what you’re after is images that feel real, that hold up in twenty years, that look like the people in them rather than a carefully managed version of those people — that’s what I’ve been making for twenty-five years.

The format was never the point.

FAQ

Why is film photography trending again in weddings?

Film is trending because couples are responding to something real — a hunger for images that feel honest, unhurried, and a little imperfect in the way that life actually is. Film renders light differently than digital, and that difference is visible even to people who can’t explain why. The aesthetic isn’t nostalgia. It’s substance.

Do you shoot film at weddings?

I don’t shoot film currently — but film is where I learned to see. When every frame costs you something, you learn to wait for the light rather than fix it in post. That discipline doesn’t disappear when you switch formats. It shows up in every digital image I make.

If you don’t shoot film, why does it matter that you trained on it?

Because the aesthetic couples are chasing when they request film isn’t really about the medium — it’s about the photographer’s eye. The patience, the intentionality, the willingness to wait for the right moment rather than manufacture one. Film built that in me. Digital just gives me more frames to work with.

Is film photography better than digital for weddings?

Neither is categorically better — they’re different tools with different strengths. Film is modestly better in tonal richness, grain character, and a quality of light that’s difficult to replicate digitally. Digital excels in pace, versatility, and low-light performance that weddings demand. The photographers worth hiring know the difference regardless of what they’re shooting.

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