Are you hoarding, just like me?

As of late, I find myself hoarding stacks of film. It started with particular brands and types I have experience with, then I ventured out to ‘new kids on the block’ (yes, there is NEW film being produced, see here and here), to nowadays just getting my hands onto anything, anywhere, and almost at any price. But..what’s the point?

Well, my fellow film photographers, even though we currently live in a somewhat film-revival period, at the current speed some manufacturers are dropping once widely available and well loved films, shelf-life of a good number of films might just become that: a life on your shelf, and not in a store. Realizing this, and frankly, feeling a little pressured into finding the film I like before it might be out of stock, I started to buy. And buy. And buy. And I can tell you, as we all know film photography wasn’t a cheap enterprise to begin with, current prices of (35mm) film aren’t either.

Of course (and thankfully) there are still alternative resources like Lomography, where you can buy many kinds of film, new and/or expired, and even sign up for a monthly film subscription. Many other (online) sources are often running empty, are low on/out of stock, or charge heaven and earth for film no lab has experience in developing (which after all your hard work shooting it can turn out to be a huge disappointment when the lab botches it).

Take for example CineStill 800 Tungsten. Oh I do love this film, it’s unique, but €9 per roll? Kodak Portra is being sold at the same price. FujiFilm Provia (if you can still get your hands on it) is a whopping €11 per roll, as well as their Pro H film. Buying boxes of these gelatin emulsions gradually turns your fridge from a tiny grocery store into a gold vault. And it doesn’t stop there, because what is in your fridge, some day should come out, be exposed, developed, printed and/or scanned. I need to keep accounting records just for my stock of film, when I don’t even use them professionally.

Sure, there are cheaper options. I know this, and I exploit this fact by filling the empty corners of my fridge with anything that will fit, from cheap corner-store rolls to way-over-date expired (and sometimes long forgotten) gems I find on eBay or local 2nd hand grab-it-up shops. And for the most part, those films are actually lots of fun to work with. If your aim is just to shoot, it is a perfect solution. However if you still want to take your time and approach a project a little more seriously (like a model shoot or something of the kind), the gloves are off (and the wallet is empty), because last time I checked ‘professional’ film is still the only ‘guarantee’ for consistent results.

On a positive note, and aside from the somewhat more established manufacturers of film currently available (such as Adox, Impossible, Rollei), there are still a few companies spread across the globe you might not have heard of, but who do produce film. I would love to get my hands on some of these. Do visit the websites of China Lucky Film (China), Indu Film (India), Kentmere (UK) and Foma (Czech) to see if any of these are available in your area.

Thus, I hoard. I see no other solution at this point in time than to just buy what I can afford, preferably with the expiry date as far in the future as possible, and stock up. I shudder to think what would happen if some of my favorite films would be discontinued (as we have seen many discontinuations in 2013) and I didn’t bother to get some before it’s too late.

Brain fart: for a film photographer and emulsion junkie like myself, these colorful canisters would make for perfect birthday gifts insert smiley. Oh darn, I have 10 months to wait for that, alas. So, what do you do? Do you hoard, just like me?

See my original article here with working links to mentioned resources and websites.

written by titaniummike on 2014-01-06