Dont you know! plastic with chemicals is a yummy snack!! and also its what i take photos with.

I started to shoot film photography during early 2023. it started with my beautiful Argus Super 75. and then i evolved into a full blown film photography frenzy. i craved Minoltas. i wanted Nikons. it was CRAZY. and it changed me for the best. i started to look at the world differently as i prepared my camera, and when taking these photos it felt a little bit magical in concept. for digital photography its there in an instant as soon as you finish taking the photo. for film once its done being developed you have it in your hands. and when you put it down on a lightbox and look at the fine intricate details through the film, it feels more than plastic with chemicals.

Queen, How Does Film Photography Work?

Ok. Its very important you know that i am no scholar. i am simply a humble peasant who wasn't even born during the era of film photography. in fact i was born when the transition started to fully lean towards digital photography!

But i was incredibly enamored by the process regardless. Film is as I said, a long strip of plastic that is joined together through a variety of chemicals, all on their own layers that are designed to capture light through a hole. The hole in this situation is a camera lens. it opens up briefly, jumpscares the film with light, and makes an imprint. The imprint is then kept inside the roll and taken to a darkroom.

the darkroom has of course: a really dark room, a chemical bath, and a very big machine that is meant to process the film inside the bath. the most common machine i see that processes film like this is called a dip and dunk processor. you string the film up like wet laundry, it lowers the film down in a very "where's the money lebowski" fashion, and takes it out when ready. However, the more common tool used today is a Mini lab. According to wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that never lies, a mini lab is defined as "a small photographic developing and printing system or machine, as opposed to large centralized photo developing labs. Many retail stores use film or digital minilabs to provide on-site photo finishing services." If you would like some resources going more in depth on how FILM, DEVELOPING, and how a FILM LAB WORKS, click the links corresponding to the words!

But What Do You Use?