In the last few years, 35mm and medium format film photography has exploded in popularity. Isn’t it funny how we tend to find our way back to the things that remind us of the past? For most people, it may be the familiarity in the colors and the grain that draws them in, or possibly even just the trend itself. But for me, it is more complex than that. Photographing a family on film demands a patient, careful slowness that invites a completely different experience to creating images.

While it’s fairly easy to find a wedding photographer who works with film, it’s much harder to find a family film photographer.

With a digital camera, you can snap away, 15 images per second (or more), keeping the photos that turn out and tossing the rest. But with film photography, every shot costs you something. Every time you press the shutter matters. Seriously, the current cost of film doesn’t make this a cheap endeavor. Film cameras are also slower, so you have to anticipate the moments you want to capture with greater accuracy. This process makes you lean in closer and pay more attention. It’s more intimate. Personal.

And that’s my whole vibe.

And that’s just the JOY of creating pictures with film photography. Wait until you see the images!

Seriously, go check out this sample gallery.

They are softer than photographs taken with modern digital cameras, and this softness is something that people find incredibly comforting. It’s true that the colors and grain of film photographs seem to transport you back in time. The power of this in family photography is the beauty that’s uncovered in the universality of family love, even in all its variance.

So next time, add 35mm film to your family photo session. I promise you’ll be so glad you did.

Find out more about family session options, including film photography, here.