MY OWN PRIVATE RETRO

By MICHAEL PERKINS

DULL THINGS ARE BURNISHED BRIGHT BY MEMORY, a thought that occurs to me every time I see an ad for a new optic or camera that is designed to “bring back” the sensation of making images as we did in the analog era. I’m not against such sentiment since it is a waste of energy. Opposing the allure of nostalgia is as pointless as warring against Classic Coke. Things “that once were” take on a thrilling, warm appeal once they’re endangered, and so film photography, and all the elements involved in creating within that format, will continue to occupy its sacred niche, generating new/old products designed to deliver a specific experience in a world in which said experience is no longer dominant.

Having been raised in a film environment, I was all too happy to see its high cost, inconvenience and technical limits head for the history shelf. I will still shoot a roll here and there “on a lark” but I would never again attempt to make my most serious or vital work in that medium. The new breed of retro gear certainly interests the mechanical tinkerer in me, but the serious photographer in me likes the speed and ease of shooting with the latest refinements, not merely tweaking the old ones.

Bistro, January 2, 2024. Shot on full manual with a Lensbaby Velvet 28, f/3.5, ISO 100, 1/125s.

One aspect of analog photography, however, still holds an appeal for me, and that is shooting on full manual. Doing my own focus and exposure gives me the hands-on control that I associate with my best days in film, but with the flexibility and predictability of digital. My own private retro zone is thus something of a hybrid. Film represents to me the risk and bother of an earlier age, but, at the same time, I retain the right of “final cut” in overriding auto functions as I see fit.

To me, having the camera handle a lot of the fuss that used to bedevil the process of composing and exposing a shot is a selling point, just as I value having the last word on the precise method of visualizing a picture. You can keep all the new toys that are designed to replicate the limits and flaws of old camera tech, and you can certainly keep the financial burden of processing film, which has only become more annoying over time. Simply give me the ultimate say on how to approach an image, paired with a camera that ever more instinctively gives me, in the final product, what I saw in my head.