The Other 4-Letter "F" Word

Going to get film processed these days means bringing in your only copies (the negatives) of pictures that you probably cherish and forking over outrageous sums to the Motophoto staff to pick out the correct setting to print your dinky little 4x6s (doubles cost extra). If you do it yourself in a darkroom, you must dedicate hours, its still expensive and you come out looking like the living dead (too much safe-light, not enough vitamin D).

I decided to take my manual camera on my trip to Haiti. A digital point-and-shoot wouldn't do - I wanted quality prints. For years I tried to stick to my guns about using my old Nikon - and as a consequence, it collected dust for years. Instead, I condemned all those other photographers that forsook the darkroom in favor of digital ease. Now I'm beginning to understand why a photographer friend of mine refers to film as that other dirty word beginning in "F."
The most disappointing thing to these kids was that they couldn't see their pictures after I snapped them. Who would have guessed that an old manual camera would be such a novelty in a country like Haiti? For the return trip, the manual SLR will be traded in for a digital SLR. Going old-school gets more and more expensive every day...