Students share their passion for film photography – BHS Register

Sami Crafts 23 ‘stands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and admires the surrounding Greek and Roman statues. She takes her Minolta camera out of her bag, loaded with an unexposed roll of film. Using the viewfinder, she takes black-and-white photos of the timeless stone sculptures. Crafts is one of a growing number of BHS students and teens across the country who are rediscovering the magic of film photography.

“I love how the movie still captures so much detail and it’s so recognizable,” Crafts said. “I feel like film is so much more authentic than digital.”

Crafts explained why film photography appealed to him.

“You don’t see it in the moment – you have to wait, which I think makes it a lot more authentic compared to being able to see digital photographs immediately,” Crafts said.

The introduction of film photography often comes from older family members who grew up with film.

“My grandmother has always been in the movies,” Crafts said. “We’ve always talked about it a lot and she gave me some of her old books on film photography.

Likewise, Soni Laughlin 23 ‘has been exploring film photography for over a year. She said she was inspired by looking at old photos of her father.

“I immediately thought they were really cool,” Laughlin said. “I loved the grain. It’s a special kind of grain that you can’t get with digital photos.

Laughlin produced a series of cinematic portraits in which she aimed to capture people’s real smiles.

“I asked people to tell jokes to the person I was photographing, and I think that made them smile sincerely,” she said.

Laughlin explained his inspiration for the portraits.

“I think we all have fake smiles in a lot of photos,” Laughlin said. “… But with these photos, I was able to get real smiles from them. They all turn out amazing when people really smile.

Laughlin explained his generation’s interest in cinema, something that some may consider obsolete.

“I think our generation is really obsessed with the past, many different aspects of it,” Laughlin said. “And I think it’s really good that the movie is part of it.”

Other work by Craft and Laughlin can be seen on their Instagrams:

Sami crafts

Soni laughlin