When I first became interested in photography, it was because of the dark room. I don’t remember wanting to take pictures so much as wanting to develop them. I basically wanted to live forever in the dark room. Chalk it up to my fascination with chemicals or being a night owl, either way, I knew I wanted to develop my own images.

Of course, to develop, you need to take photos. It’s pretty simple, so I started in high school. I took a photojournalism course, and I remember they gave us point and shoot film cameras to practice with. We got lessons on opening film canisters, rolling with the metal wheels, and finally mixing and using developer. Being in the dark room was and still is one of my favorite experiences with using a film camera. It also led to the discovery of another experience, the beauty that is seeing your image for the first time.

Some people might say that this experience isn’t unique or new or anything that should really be reveled, but I would whole heartedly disagree. When you take a photo on a film camera, there’s no viewfinder that allows you to see the shot. You have to go on your gut and the camera to know if you’ve captured something wonderful. A lot of times, it’s what you think it is, especially if you’ve metered correctly, but there are sometimes when you find a true gem amongst the photos you’ve taken. Sometimes the light comes into the photo and illuminates the materials you’re photographing or the camera focuses on something you hadn’t quite planned on. These little surprises always give me a lot of joy. They often make for the best pictures as well.

These are just a few of my favorite parts about shooting on a film camera, the reasons I love to take pictures. Everyone got started some way...why did you?