“To collect photographs is to collect the world. Movies and television programs light up walls, flicker, and go out; but with still photographs the image is also an object, lightweight, cheap to produce, easy to carry about, accumulate, store.”

I have been thinking about Sunsan Sontag's essay In Plato’s Cave for a while now. As someone who carries her camera everywhere, strap slung around my neck, ready to capture what I see, her essay deeply impacted me. When I travel I pack my gear, I carry pounds worth of it on my back.

But why?

Her essay has me evaluating my own relationship with photography and travel. Of course, I love capturing the world around me. Viewing it through my camera can make me feel like a voyeur in others' lives. Holding the camera creates a physical separation, a space to stand and observe. Tune the eye for beauty.

However, there is a fine line between opening your eyes to beauty and searching for the photogenic.

“A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it - by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir. Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.”

It is easy to snap hundreds, if not thousands of endless images that will collect digital dust in clouds. To quicken the shutter speed and not just take one, but dozens of frames in an attempt to catch the perfect moment. To pull out a phone before arriving, preparing to document.

“Photographs will offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, that the program was carried out, that fun was had.”

When taking a photo, am I creating a barrier between myself and the present moment, preventing me from fully experiencing the thing or place? Or am I taking a photo as a way to further contemplate and enjoy it? I would like to think that I see more, and experience more.

”The very activity of taking pictures is soothing, and assuages general feelings of disorientation that are likely to be exacerbated by travel. Most tourists feel compelled to put the camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable that they encounter. Unsure of other responses, they take a picture. This gives shape to experience: stop, take a photograph, and move on. The method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic--Germans, Japanese, and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.”

Although Sontag wrote this essay in the 1970s, it still holds relevance in today's world, and in my opinion, even more so.

Nowadays, we all have a camera in our pocket.

The Cult of Film

Have you noticed that photographers, both professional and amateur, are returning to film? As someone who spent a lot of time in darkrooms during university, I find this return fascinating to watch.

I can still remember assignments that had me sweating, one in particular still stands out to me. We were required to shoot one roll of film on location without any do-overs.

The location? Fort Edmonton Park. We spent hours wandering the park, carefully selecting each image, and taking our time before releasing the shutter. We were responsible for developing our own film, so that added a second layer of pressure.

Each frame felt precious. And that little roll felt heavy as I pulled it to start processing. Do the new wave of film photographers feel this?

Now it seems important to state which film you use when posting online. Proclaim how many rolls you have shot. Some will post videos of rolls tumbling from their bags, laughing at how many photos they have shot. A small voice in my head is murmuring about consumerism and wastefulness.

And no, I don’t think all film photographers are weird about using film. I see those that are sharing their journey, and learning to develop to save money, gaining finer control of their work.

I don’t want to skip over the fact that cameras like the Fuji x100 now exist to give photographers the instant feeling of shooting on film without having to process. But the camera’s price and popularity can easily make it out of reach for many. We now pay for the feeling of nostalgia.

Much like Sontag, who wondered about tourists using photography as "the principal device for experiencing something, for giving an appearance of participation.” I wonder about people on Instagram and Threads telling me they shot on Kodak Porta 400. Tell me about what you were thinking, feeling, and struggling with while shooting. What was the story you were telling, or maybe there wasn’t one? Maybe you captured an unexpected moment. Maybe you are documenting your life. Or someone else’s.

We have taken the freedom of digital photography and applied it to film. We are focusing on volume in a medium that was inherently restrictive and forced you to literally roll to the next frame.

Maybe this is just the natural cycle of it all.

The Holga inspired Instagram. And now social media is inspiring a return to film.

As someone that owned several Holgas in her day, collecting them in fact, please don’t think they are good. They are a toy. It was actually a pain in the ass dealing with them.

I want to leave you with a great video by Davey Gravy that, should you want to get the look of film while shooting digital you can try with his suggestions. You don’t have to be a ‘pro’ anything to try.

Now it is up to you to decide.

Will you slow down and shoot like you only have 36 frames?

Or will you shoot like you have endless memory on your phone or SD card.

Up to you.

Visually Captivating

Sightseer Americanus

Photographer: Roger Minick

American photographer Roger Minick has been making photographs of the American experience for more than five decades. I was transfixed by how he uses flash and a straight on shot to capture the obligatory photos we take while traveling.

The inspiration came while at Yosemite National Park with photography students that likely all managed to capture the exact same photo. While looking at the scene Minick noticed something else, “waves of tourists were continually arriving at the overlook’s parking lot in cars, buses and motorhomes, thrusting their way through this gauntlet of photographers not only for a clear view of the famous vista but also for the obligatory snapshot of themselves proving they were there.”

Read Minick’s Field Notes

See more of Minick’s photos

Poetry Is Everything

Read & Resources

In My Cup

Moving Coffee

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This blog was adapted from Issue 1, a regular email I share with my newsletter subscribers. Make sure to subscribe to receive it and the extras that come along with us becoming email friends.