120

When I returned to film photography, I have to confess that I came back as a traditional emulsion snob. By traditional, I mean the old stuff: Tri-X, Fomapan, HP5, and so on. What I wanted was authenticity, and I didn’t think that some engineered emulsion, with its controlled formation of silver halide salts (that means you, Delta and T-Max) was something I wanted to have anything to do with. Oh, I tried the modern stuff — and was disappointed by its overly pure, overly perfect contrast, tone and grain. It looked… digital. And the entire reason I was shooting film was to not be digital. All that may be how the story begins, but it’s not how it ends.

Continue reading…