Analogue Photography
After playing with digital cameras for a while now, eight years to be closely precise, I started getting drawn back to the nostalgic allure of film photography. The last time I engaged in it was a long time ago when I was a kid, and at the time, photography was nothing more than solely about acquiring photos of people around me.
Unlike digital counterparts, film cameras offer limited settings, requiring photographers to carefully compose and expose each shot before pressing the shutter button. In my opinion, their images tend to look better probably because their eyes are more trained, and they do not press the button unless what they see through the viewfinder is a scene that evokes a feeling in them.
One is my go-to while the other is for the heavy demands.
The biggest reason for revisiting analogue photography arose from the desire to own a collection of tangible memories. The ability to hold and share these prints adds a personal and nostalgic touch to the photographic experience, fostering a deeper connection with the captured memories in contrast to viewing them on a screen. For about a month or so, I dived into articles and videos of film cameras to know what I was getting into and became very eager to own one.
The only thing holding me back from narrowing down to a camera for purchase was the realisation that I'd have to visit a photo printing store every time to develop the pictures. I even considered getting myself a film scanner and a photo printer, but a good film scanner is costly and pairing it with the printer will take up a fair bit of space, a luxury I could not afford for now.
My focus shifted to instant photography, where the joy of capturing a moment and instantly seeing it "printed" by the camera is remarkable. There are less than a handful of brands; the more commonly known ones are Fujifilm Instax and Polaroid. As a beginner, I feel it would be better to dip my toes and experience what this photography style offers me before delving further.
After thorough research and comparison, I opted for Fujifilm's Instax due to its reputation for consistent colour reproduction and high recommendation for beginners. Additionally, its availability in a 'wide' format was the deciding factor in my decision-making process. I don't fancy the 1:1, whereas the mini is too small (half of the wide format) to appreciate a photo. With that consideration, the Instax WIDE 300 is the only camera I could get, apart from its predecessors, which debuted ages ago. For perspective, the WIDE 300 was launched a decade back in 2014.
A fun camera to play with.
I got my hands on the Black colour option even though the Toffee looked more pleasant to the eyes—it was full of whites, and I can't imagine dirtying them. I have brought the WIDE 300 camera with me whenever I possibly could in the last couple of months. It has been an enjoyable start, and I cannot wait to shoot with it again. To be candid, the Fujifilm Instax WIDE 300 is not an aesthetically pleasing camera, and its relatively large size makes travelling feel cumbersome even though it is lightweight. But the joy of capturing a moment and witnessing it develop into a physical print almost instantly creates a sense of magic and wonder.
View my Instax films here.
