In a world dominated by instant gratification and digital perfection, shooting film now romanticizes, at least in my mind, the beauty and simplicity of a bygone era. That was my thought last year when I learned, by accident, that my Nikon 2020 film camera still works; it just needed new batteries. My idea was to start shooting one roll of film at every event to remind myself when I first started in photography. My first foray back to film was early last year; the results were okay. But this time not as good. Now, I'm rethinking how and when I'll continue shooting film?

My initial thought was that shooting film was supposed to bring me back to a time when every click of the shutter held a promise, a whisper of magic yet to be revealed. You never know what your photos will look like or if anything came out of the roll due to my error, which recently occurred, or a mistake made by the lab where it was processed. I double-exposed one roll, meaning I exposed the same frame of film twice, creating a single image with two superimposed exposures. Not what you want! 

Here is my friend Ron Mehalko, sutler (vendor), founder of Get Revolution Wear, from the Chadds Ford 2024 event. I've known him for around 15 years. In August 2019, I conducted a blog interview. For this image, I cropped him in tight and adjusted the highlights and shadows, a simple process.

Years ago, I worked at Wolf Camera, a camera store based in Atlanta, GA, where I sold film cameras and processed rolls of C41 film. When I took photos back then, I enjoyed the tactile sensation of loading a roll, the anticipation of waiting for the perfect moment, and the thrill of not knowing precisely what I had captured until I reviewed it.

This photo is from the Mt Vernon-Revolutionary War Encampment event. I took a similar, more cropped-in photo immediately before this one. With my Nikon 500 digital camera, I can customize the color palette, saturation, color temperature, and even noise. I enjoy the rich, bold colors that I can achieve in post-processing. I think of this when comparing the picture quality of TVs from the 1960s to today.

TVs in the 1960s had low resolution, often black-and-white images with frequent signal issues. In contrast, today's TVs offer ultra-high-definition resolution, vibrant colors with HDR, and consistent digital signals, providing a vastly superior viewing experience. The quality of digital cameras is the same. Maybe you can't go back in time?

Although this is a nice photo, it appears to be a RAW image before I post-process it in On1 Software. I don't like the film version as much.

Film photography is an intimate dance with light and shadow, where imperfections become cherished memories and every frame tells a story. It's the art of patience, the joy of discovery, and the beauty of the unexpected. 

This black and white image from last year's Battle at Chadds Ford event is a good example of the photo opportunities you can discover at reenactments. I like the contrast throughout, but especially the detail in the Hessian's helmet.

Shooting film is not just about capturing images; it's about capturing emotions, moments, and the essence of life itself. It's a love letter to the past, a celebration of the present, and a timeless gift to the future. However, something I had forgotten about was how expensive it is to shoot film.

Let's break it down—a roll of 400 ISO 36 exposures, whether in black and white or color, costs approximately $9 each. For two rolls of black and white film and one roll of color film, the shipping cost was $14 round-trip. One of my rolls was, as I later learned, double exposed; I'm not sure how I managed that. For each roll from a professional lab, developing was $7, and scanning the film $9. My total sum was approximately $60 for three rolls of film! Additionally, at most, five images were decent photos, and none were better than the ones I took with my digital camera. 

This color image from the recent Mt. Vernon-Revolutionary War Encampment is good, but to me, it doesn't have the same emotional impact as my digital ones. It looks like one of my RAW unedited shots.
This photo is also from the Redcoats and Rebels Grand Tactical event at Mount Harmon in 2024. I've visited Mt. Harmon many times and have numerous shots of this mansion in Maryland, a beautifully restored 18th-century manor house set on a 200-acre waterfront nature preserve. It features colonial-era architecture, formal gardens, and offers guided tours and educational programs.

This photo is nice; the black and white makes it feel more historic. In post processing, the most significant change was darkening the bushes. 

So, will I continue shooting film? Not for a while. The results weren't impressive, and the expense was also a concern. Additionally, I probably won't use color film, but instead focus on B&W, so I can develop and process them as I did years ago.

Thank you for reading! Blog #92 will be posted on August 1, 2025. Be safe & well!

Huzzah,

Ken Bohrer