Who Am I?
I am a lover of analogue film photography.
I am Ben; a husband, a father, and a lover of music and photography, Though born in the mid 80’s I had no interest in cameras or taking pictures until my first daughter came along nearly 30 years later. I invested in a fairly cheap digital SLR to document our lives and the growing up of our family, and like usual I fell into the rabbit hole of videos and online articles of ‘how to be a better photographer’.
Shortly after that I found myself in the world of film based ‘analogue’ photography. I completely dropped digital and dived head first into the expensive world of film. But that’s me; all or nothing. I always felt something was missing in digital. It was always too ‘cold’ and ‘clinical’. Film opened its arms to me and… slapped me across the face, I was instantly hooked and haven’t looked back since.
Wedding photography was the logical next step for me. I love taking pictures, especially of people, and there is so much going on to find and shoot. I love the pressure, especially without the safety net of taking hundreds of pictures to see ‘which one turned out’, it makes me a better ‘photographer’.
I like to work as a ‘documentary’ style photographer; You just want to enjoy your day, forgetting that you even have a photographer there, but confident that you will have great images to look at for the rest of your lives. Although, if you would like me to get more involved and help to create the pictures that you want, I am more than happy to do that as well. Just let me know what you would prefer!
Everyone and everyday is different, please get in touch and we can talk about your day and work together to create something you will love.
Let me answer some of your questions!
Do wedding photographers still use film?
The simple answer, is no; The advancements in digital cameras have made it so much easier for people to take nice pictures with little to no technical abilities. This isn’t a bad thing, far from it, I love the fact that more and more people are documenting their daily lives. But there are more people asking the question about analogue film wedding photography, and therefore more wedding photographers are starting to offer it in their package. This may be that they take a second, purely film, shooter with them, or it may mean they take along a film camera to get a couple of film ‘snaps’ in amongst the rest of the day. I don’t just offer it; I am it! I don’t use digital cameras, not even at home (except taking a quick snapshot on my phone when I need to). This means that I don’t just play with it, I live it. If you want film photos for your wedding day/engagement session/portrait shots, I am your man.
What is the style of film wedding photography?
Well, that depends entirely on the person taking the pictures! My style tends to be very warm, with a strong focus on composition. I also like to keep my apertures as open as the light allows me, to get that nice out of focus background (bokeh) look. Generally though, film gives you a warm look to your colour images with a bit of grain giving them a nice texture. And in my opinion, black and white looks so much more real on film!
How much can a film wedding photographer charge?
Again, that depends entirely on the individual. With film there is a greater cost in materials, and currently film is quite expensive to buy and develop, and although some photographers develop their own film; I don’t currently develop mine, I like to use a lab I trust and have used many times, that I know will always give me a great result. However, time is expensive, and as a film wedding photographer, I don’t edit my images (except for some light tonal adjustments if necessary). With that, I don’t spend weeks/months slumped over a computer editing my images, most of the time I will have spent on your day, will be actually on your day! Therefore, I won’t be charging you for all of the time that some wedding or portrait photographers would, keeping my costs as low as possible.
What does a film photographer do?
The same as every other photographer! The camera is just the tool, and with any other tool that people will use, it will have different pros and cons for different individuals. My cameras are all mechanical, so there are no electronics to play up, no batteries to go flat, no memory cards to corrupt… However, I can’t take thousands of images and then sift through them to find the best ones. Some photographers wouldn’t like that, but I do! I like to be in the moment, fully focussed on you and your day, that way I don’t need to take thousands of photos, you can be confident that the picture I have taken will be the one I wanted to get!
Any other questions?
Do you have any other questions? Feel free to get in contact, either through my contact page or email me at info@bengilholm.com