EMILY COFFEY: Everything old is new again. Owner of Johnson Studio and Camera, Lydia Johnson has seen film photography become a prime example of this age-old saying.
LYDIA JOHNSON: I would say it was about six years ago that we noticed a shift generationally of those customers coming to us asking for their film to be developed.
COFFEY: But to understand the significance of film photography. It is important to know the history of film photography. According to Kodak’s website, In the late 1800’s George Eastman, the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, began experiments to create a flexible film roll and received a patent for that film roll in 1885. His next focus was to create a camera that could use this new role. In 1888 Eastman did just that, when he patented and released the first Kodak camera.
The camera was sold, loaded with 100 exposures. After the roll was used the photographer would mail the camera and 10 dollars back to Kodak. There the film would be processed, printed and the camera would be reloaded with more film and sent back to the photographer along with the prints.
Johnson knows this history firsthand as her grandfather started Johnson Studio over 70 years ago, and she says this new generation is on the hunt for this old medium.
JOHNSON: We have grandparents that are feeling a little pressure from their grandchildren saying, ‘Hey did you ever own one of these?’ and the giggles of yeah there is dust on it somewhere, maybe it’s in the attic and those old Nikons really being resurrected.
COFFEY: Johnson says one of the reasons young people are becoming more drawn to film photography is the idea that each picture holds more weight.
JOHNSON: A role of film, you know, typically packaged in a length of 24 exposures or 36 exposures. Now there becomes a scarcity so it becomes instantly essential that you make your decisions deliberately, deciding when you’re going to click the shutter button.
COFFEY: Syracuse photography graduate student Surya Vaidy says in a digital world it is nice to have a different form of photography that forces an ever-moving generation to slow down.
SURYA VAIDY: The physical object of film you know that’s really cool, and I think really impactful in and of itself to people. So, we have so many digital things when we can afford to have a physical thing, I think that’s pretty cool.
COFFEY: Though film photography will always be in competition with digital it is clear there is a newfound love for an old medium. Reporting from Syracuse, I’m Emily Coffey for NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Everything old is new again. Owner of Johnson Studio and Camera, Lydia Johnson has seen film photography become a prime example of this age-old saying.
“I would say it was about six years ago that we noticed a shift generationally of those customers coming to us asking for their film to be developed,” said Johnson.
To understand the significance of film’s comeback, it’s important to know the history of film photography. According to Kodak’s website, in the late 1800’s George Eastman, the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, began experiments to create a flexible film roll and received a patent for that film roll in 1885. His next focus was to create a camera that could use this new role. In 1888 Eastman did just that, when he patented and released the first Kodak camera.
The camera was sold, loaded with 100 exposures. After the roll was used the photographer would mail the camera and 10 dollars back to Kodak. There the film would be processed, printed and the camera would be reloaded with more film and sent back to the photographer along with the prints.
Johnson knows this history firsthand as her grandfather started Johnson Studio over 70 years ago, and she says this new generation is on the hunt for this old medium.
“We have grandparents that are feeling a little pressure from their grandchildren saying, ‘Hey did you ever own one of these?’ and the giggles of yeah there is dust on it somewhere, maybe it’s in the attic and those old Nikons,” said Johnson.
Johnson says one of the reasons young people are becoming more drawn to film photography is the idea that each picture holds more weight.
“A role of film, you know, typically packaged in a length of 24 exposures or 36 exposures. Now there becomes a scarcity so it becomes instantly essential that you make your decisions deliberately, deciding when you’re going to click the shutter button,” said Johnson.
Syracuse photography graduate student Surya Vaidy says in a digital world it is nice to have a different form of photography that forces an ever-moving generation to slow down.
“The physical object of film you know that’s really cool, and I think really impactful in and of itself to people. So, we have so many digital things when we can afford to have a physical thing, I think that’s pretty cool,” said Vaidy.
Though film photography will always be in competition with digital it is clear there is a newfound love for an old medium.
