Digital methods are evolutions in the area of photography, but it would not do to forget where and how it all started. Film photography has truth and integrity of its own that digital will never have. It is real and honest, sometimes brutally so. Digital photography allows the artist unlimited potential for creativity; the images can be altered, manipulated, distorted, enhanced in ways that film cannot.
The authenticity of the darkroom, however, is fading as a result of digital imaging and new technology; everything must be easier, faster, and more automatic. Recently, companies have found that the sales of digital products have surpassed those of traditional film products and one by one they are abandoning the manufacture of the papers and chemicals necessary for film photography. This fact, though an economic reality, is a tragedy for the world of photographers. Thirty-five millimeter rendered all other film nearly obsolete in the world of consumers. It was predestined, then, that the future of film would be bleak once digital had come along, outdoing itself in its capabilities. It is crucial that film does not die out like an old dinosaur; film and digital are two different media altogether, and they are both essential parts of the art and culture of photography. I find it personally devastating that the world of film is being confronted with its own mortality.
Each medium has its own value for expression of creative ideas and for freezing and preserving a moment in time. Each has proven its value and earned its right to exist. Film displays bold, unabashed truth while digital is open to change. If the former were to become a lost art, the integrity that photography started out with and always had would be lost and forgotten.
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