licensed to ilford

Back in my youth, part of the post-holiday comedown involved watching my father package up a yellow mailer bag with an undeveloped cine film. Several months later and a similar envelope would return back from an English laboratory, ready to roll.

A family meeting was convened, a plastic screen was hung over the chimney breast and the silent memories were unspooled. Often the exposures were off, the sun came flaring through the lens and on at least one occasion, the same roll had been exposed several times. The double exposures were a cause of unintentional merriment. Mostly though, it was magic.

This year we watched bits of the video footage before arriving home for the hols and the digital stills had been edited en route. But still I reserved the right to send a couple of 35mm films off to the chemists. They were ready a day later, but still it was a thrilling little piece of alchemy, as the rolls were souped, the prints made and the surprises were tangible.

The average 35mm negative carries 20 megapixels worth of memory, which is way more than your digital point-and-shoots. And I still feel that there's a tone, a feel and an aesthetic that's apparent on film, even from a lab print. Therefore I'll continue to get my clicks on analogue, for a while longer.