BENGALURU: Remember the old days, when you'd have to take rolls of film to the photo lab to get them developed? That wait to see how your pictures turn out, going through them with your friends and family, getting excited when the pictures turn out well, or even ashamed by the not-so-great ones that are now preserved safely in dusty photo albums, are feelings several youngsters will never get to experience.
In fact, in the 2017 Netflix film Kodachrome, a story about a trio who go on an epic road trip to find the last lab in the country that still develops kodachrome film, the dying art of analog photography is highlighted. The lead, played by veteran actor Ed Harris, sums up the film vs. digital argument beautifully - ‘People are taking more pictures now than ever before. Billions of ’em. But there’s no slides, no prints. They’re just data, electronic dust. Years from now, when they dig us up, there won’t be any pictures to find. No record of who we were, how we lived.'
To capture these feelings and revive the dying art of using film and chemicals to develop pictures, Bhoomi - The Centre For Art Studies in Banashankari, is hosting a two-day workshop for photography enthusiasts in the city. Being held on May 26 and 27, the workshop will teach people how to set up a dark room in their homes as well as some basic photography.
"In this digital age, I prefer analog photography because digital has gone too far. The pictures are over-exposed, over-edited, while analog is authentic. There is no authenticity in digital photographs. It's not that they are bad, but when you have too much freedom to edit a picture, it leads to confusion. The whole process is more interesting with analog photography- it's hands on, personal, and not knowing what the outcome is going to be is exciting," says Shashang Iyer, who is conducting the workshop and processes his own film. He adds that while the art form has picked up again in the last few years in the West, In India, it is hard to find places that develop film or get the chemicals required. "A lot of famous studios across the country have shut down. In Ahmedabad, where I'm from, we've been encouraging shops to keep film so that people keep exploring the possibilities the art form," he adds.
Siddharth Sadashiv from Bhoomi, who conducts art workshops there regularly, says that the intention of this workshop is to bring back analog photography. These days, it is picking up in other countries as an ‘art form', because unlike before, there are options now and analog photography isn't common anymore," he says.
He says that in Bengaluru, people have started using film to shoot, but they don't know to process it or where they can go to get it done. “We will give people contacts for where they can go to develop their film. Apart from that, we will also show them how to set up a dark room at their homes with minimal requirements and expense, and tell them that you don't need to be a professional to do this," he says.
The workshop is taking place at Bhoomi - Centre for Art Studies on May 26 and 27, and is open to anyone who is passionate about photography. For more information, contact 9880220672.