Get your $ 95 Worth...

What was your weekly allowance? Did you get one at all? Did you have to do chores to qualify for it? Or was there a pot of money on the telephone table that you just dipped into whenever you fancied a treat? Mine was 50¢ initially - when that would buy ten chocolate bars or one Airfix model airplane in a plastic bag. Later it became $ 2.00 but there was a good deal of lawn mowing needed. In my final year of high school it was $ 3.00 - a figure set by the boarding school administration for everyone to prevent trouble. I could afford a roll of Kodak B/W film from this, plus a drug store soda. The developing was free in the school darkroom. It was a workable equation...until I wanted to shoot Kodachrome II colour film. That was several week's worth of sugar-free saving...but it made me a better photographer. Every shot was deliberate and I knew it was costing me - I wanted value for that money, and I was careful with exposure and framing. Would the same apply to a modern student with no film costs? I don't think so. I also don't think I am under the same restraint, nor achieve the same good-to-bad ratio in my digital days. Latterly I am more cautious but it is the result of fatigue - I don't want to spend hours trying to repair dodgy exposures, nor do I appreciate having to sift through hundreds of similar photos to find the peak action. I force myself to obtain the pictures I want during the shortest burst of exposure. If I were going to discipline myself thoroughly, ( no chains, please... ) I would go back to shooting colour transparencies in 35mm or 120. In addition to the unchangeable nature of film exposure, the costs would make me both moral and serious. $ 45 for a roll of 36 exposure Ektachrome. Then a developing and scanning cost of another $ 50. Don't ask about printing costs as I did not do higher maths at school...Look at the idea of one image for $ 2.63...it's like the film and developing costs that people dreaded in the 20th century...the one film a year folks who begrudged the price of the Verichrome Pan and the chemist's costs. Taking up analogue photography is a wonderful thing - a discipline for some and a challenge for others. The retro worker has our admiration, particularly if their results are really good. Many are, and they cannot be gainsaid. But a trip to the shops and a look at the on-line developers tells us that we are either going to get good quickly or go broke at an equally rapid rate. Perhaps it is true that we must practice with digital before advancing to film...