I took this photograph of a chestnut vendor in Hyde Park London in 1989 with my Nikon FE, fully manual and either Kodak or Fuji film in the lowest ISO I could find. The rain provided the softness of the focus, giving the entire scene the look of the early romantic period of photography. We scanned it several years ago along with others of that era of our work.
Two weeks ago I purchased film for the first time since 2004, when I discovered that my trusty Nikon FE (due to an unexpected spray of salt water and a cleaning that didn’t work) no longer functioned. Karl convinced me at that time to try the then new digital SLRs and bought a Canon 20D for my birthday.
Just this week our favorite independent camera store, and actually the only one left in the area, emailed those of us on the mailing list asking for working classic film cameras for consignment. My beloved Nikon FE made the list, as did Karl’s still working Pentax K series, the one I intend to begin using again. We tried to sell these numerous times and no one including this vendor would take them on consignment. Why are they suddenly back in the spotlight? The younger photographers want to use film.
Digital remains my primary camera, and I don’t see that changing. But I slowly plan to re-integrate film. We will see how that works and I hope in the next few months to have something worth posting here.
Nichter Photography PLUS 