Why hire a film wedding photographer? Digital photography has been the norm for over 20 years. So why would you want analog photos, with actual rolls of 35mm film shot on old camera?

In this article, we’ll dive into the allure of film photography and explore why more and more couples are opting for it on their special day. From the nostalgic vibes that resonate with Gen Z to the unique, artistic imperfections that film offers, there’s a lot to love about this old-school approach. As a photographer who embraces both digital and film but considers themselves a digital photographer, I’ll share my insights and experiences with this captivating medium so you can figure out whether it’s a good fit for your Bay Area wedding.

Prefer to watch the video? I’ve created a <15-minute video where I explain what you could gain by adding film photography to your wedding photo package. This was so much fun to create, but a lot of work, so hopefully you’ll love this!:

What is it about this art form within photography that has not only endured but has seen a resurgence with the digital native generation also digging the film vibe? This paragraph from a Reddit comment really resonated with me and summed it up perfectly.

“Millennials yearned for perfection, Gen Z is yearning for nostalgia. Younger couples want that 90s and early 2000s look, they want their images to feel like you don’t HAVE to care and try as hard as we do today. Back then just the existence of a photo was all you needed for that photo to be good. Today every human on the planet has a camera and a good one at that. A good average photo is a dime a dozen, and many people don’t see the difference between an average iPhone photo and a well-lit photo from a high-end camera. So we move backward and latch on to the feeling of nostalgia that also happens to ensure the images will look different than what everyone is getting with their cell phones.” – u/joergonix, wedding photography subreddit.

If you’re looking for something a little different for your wedding photos consider tapping into the editorial style that’s gaining popularity among discerning couples! Let’s dive into the world of film photography so you can decide whether it’s something you value for your wedding photography package.

My approach to film photography

Though I’m firmly a digital photographer, I love to take a roll or two of film at weddings. I would never shoot a whole wedding with film – to me, it’s a fun novelty. Film complements the main work I do, adding another dimension to my creativity and unlocking a different part of my brain. Film adds a touch of whimsy, fun, nostalgia and unpredictability.

There are some photographers out there that take a different approach. They may have been shooting for decades so film isn’t just a new fad for them – it’s what they’ve always done.

Yet other wedding photographers specialize in the ‘fine art’ style of film photography, a much more serious art form than the point-and-shoot style I favor. This typically involves high-end 120 film cameras like the Contax, Pentax, Mamiya 645, or Hasselblad H1, which cost thousands. 

Personally my philosophy with film is to embrace the serendipity and happy accidents of the medium. I love its imperfection and the raw, nostalgic feel.

I want film to look like film – lots of grain, flash and unmistakably vintage tones. I want the photos to remind you of photos from your childhood. To me, any film camera that’s too perfect in how it renders a scene or looks ‘too digital’ kind of defeats the object.

My film equipment

Holga 120 GCFN

I’ve been experimenting since 2019 with various Holga 120 (a medium format film camera otherwise known as 120 film). The Holga is literally a toy camera, whose design originated in Hong Kong in 1981.

The zone-focusing is all manual, and it’s extremely lo-tech. You have to wind the film to advance it. The entire instrument is made of plastic except my newest one which actually has a glass lens! Will wonders never cease. It’s a Holga 120 GCFN, to anyone interested, and you can pick one up for less than $60 new. 

Hell, I love this camera so much I even wrote a whole, long blog post singing its praises and a video showcasing of dozens of my fave images!:

There aren’t that many settings on the trusty Holga, but it does allow for you to do everything manually. It even has ‘bulb’ mode, meaning you have to take a guess how long the shutter should stay open for a decent exposure. It makes for some interesting multiple exposures and (usually unintentional) motion blur.

The Holga’s low-tech approachability and artfully flawed optics have elevated it to a particular cult status today though. I love working within its extremely restrictive capabilities and the fact it’s a literal cheap toy makes me so crazy to push the boundaries of creativity.

Contax T2

My other, and most recent addition to my film camera collection. I recently added a Contax T2 to my lineup. This is a premium 35mm point-and-shoot camera, costing around $1,200 second-hand.

The Contax T2 enables that nostalgic look many of us grew up with – the camera was manufactured in 1991. It has excellent metering and is the exact opposite of my Holga in that it’s completely automatic (auto film advance, exposure, focusing, etc).

Incidentally, this is the same film camera Kendall Jenner took on the talk show with Jimmy Fallon. (I had to Google that, as I have zero interest in or knowledge about celebrities!). But she knew what she was doing with this camera. It takes gorgeous shots in any lighting, and I love that it has a powerful flash built in for that upgraded 90s-disposable-camera-vibe.

Though I have whittled it down to just two film cameras now, let me tell you, it’s been a LONG journey to get here.

I’ve had all of the following film cameras in my possession – everything from point and shoots to film SLRs – and have ditched them all for reasons of unreliability or impracticality. The list of ditched cameras include: Canon AF35M, Canon Elan, Diana Mini, Fuji Discovery 80 Plus, Minolta HI-MATIC-9, Olympus Stylus Epic and the original Holga 120 FN.

My current setup, though slim, has taken many years, significant cost and a lot of late-night scrolling on eBay. It wasn’t something I arrived at by chance – it has been a deliberate and, at times, frustrating journey.

Reasons to love film photography

The unmistakable vibe

I’m going to start with the most nebulous one, just to get it out the way. You know what I mean – film has this ‘vibe’ that is hard to describe. It’s vibe-y. It’s a counterbalance to the perfection we can get these days with perfectly crisp, digitally enhanced photos, ever-improving phone cameras, HDR, AI and whatnot. What’s the vibe? IYKYK.

In short, it’s hot, it’s cool. According to the opinion of many tastemakers, we’re seeing trends in visual culture that specifically move away from the “Instagram perfect” aesthetic, which is in itself becoming old. Curated perfection is out. Embracing whimsy and imperfection is in.

This is why we’re seeing the resurgence of film and the blurry photo thing. It’s not that film is technically better than digital, in fact, it’s often markedly worse. But it represents something people view as more authentic. Partly because it harkens back to a bygone age (and nostalgia is in, baby!)

Even though your film images will be delivered digitally, film brings a tangible, timeless feel to images. (Labs these days don’t make prints unless you ask for them, but they are digital prints anyway, unlike the old days!). It isn’t about quantity, it’s about the quality and the unmistakable ⚡vibes ⚡

The magical, ‘can’t put my finger on it’ quality of film

Film photography has a magical quality. It’s like the difference between a vinyl record and streaming on Spotify. The grain, the imperfections – they all add character. Even with all our advances in digital image manipulation, there is yet to exist a means of recreating the tones and quality of a film image. The colors are different from what digital cameras can capture.

You get not just photos created from zeros and ones, but pieces of a unique, artistic experience complete with elements of serendipity and happenstance. There are light leaks, accidental double exposures, put-my-finger-on-the-lens moments.

This aesthetic is a deliberate counterpoint to the overly curated, perfection-focused style that has become common with digital photography and particularly the relentless progress of cameras in smartphones.

For anyone that’s into analog processes or is interested in old photos, it’s a must!

Film is timeless and evokes nostalgia

Film enables me to capture emotions in a timeless way that transcends trends. Digital photos tend to contextualize images within a particular time, not to mention the editing that photographers do in Lightroom which – even if we edit timelessly – does bring it back to the time we’re living in, just like color grading in a feature film dates it exactly.

The film cameras we use today, they are the same film cameras that were manufactured decades ago. As you can imagine, there have been few innovations in the film world. So it’s more than an editing gimmick, it’s actual old tech.

It’s funny – as a photographer I can easily tell the difference between a film vs a digital image (well, there have been some very good film emulations on digital, but these are created by other similarly obsessive photographers).

A little story for you – someone I follow (a non-photographer) posted on Instagram after a vacation that her ‘film photos were in’ – but here’s the thing: they were definitely *not* film photos. They were just bad phone photos with a filter on them! I thought it was pretty hilarious that film has become so popular, people are faking it!

I’ve had clients comment that the film shots remind them of their childhood, and that they love the way you can’t tell what period of time the photo was taken. It blows me away that non-photographers can see what I see and experience exactly what I do when I see a great film photo!

And as so many people use words like ‘timeless’ to describe how they want their wedding photos to look in general, adding film is a shortcut to that end.

Film has a soft, vibrant feel, almost like a memory

Film is elegant, nostalgic with a soft and vibrant aesthetic. It’s hard to describe, but hopefully the images on this page are doing some of the talking.

There are two main film stocks I use when shooting weddings, though I’ve tried many. Kodak Portra 400 or, when I can get my hands on it, 800 (it’s hard to come by and expensive). The second is Ilford HP5, a low-contrast black-and-white film.

I love how both films handle highlights beautifully even in harsh light, and soften them in a way no digital camera will do (and that would be prohibitively time-consuming to do in post). What does that mean for you? Flattering photos with fewer harsh shadows.

The dynamic range of film is unsurpassed, even when comparing the lowliest of film cameras with a top-of-the-range digital camera. Yet rather than flattening out the tones, film does a beautiful job of making images pop effortlessly. It’s quite extraordinary.

When I use my Holga in particular, I especially love the soft look, which is caused by motion blur, missed focus or multiple exposures. In fact, these images can even go too far from reality, and look more like paintings than photographs. Think less tack-sharp, pixel-peeping, digital perfection and more images that capture the mood or ambiance of the event.

Many of these images succeed in feeling like a memory, the way it’s kind of fuzzy and imperfect. To me, this pairs perfectly with the sentimentality of weddings. And the way that our memories get fuzzy over time, just like these fuzzy images.

Film unlocks mindfulness and creativity

With film, I have to be more mindful and creative. Each frame is expensive, and there is a literal hard cost each time the film advances. It’s around $4 per every shutter advance, even more for 120 film and the filmstock I favor, Portra 800. The limited shots per roll make each frame more intentional, creating a sense of anticipation and care in the process.

That translates to less spray and pray (my default when shooting digital so I don’t miss anything). Instead there is more slowing down, careful composition, and skillfully timed shots. The thoughtful approach means I curate each shot. I rarely delete any film shots at all unless you can’t make anything out whatsoever or I caught a horribly unflattering facial expression.

The way I shoot when I’m shooting film is, I’ve noticed, different from the way I shoot digital. Things that I honestly wouldn’t bother taking a photo with on digital are suddenly popping into my head and I’m getting that unmistakeable urge to TAKE A DAMN PHOTO. It’s pretty interesting if you ask me. The upshot of this is that you not only get the same things but photographed on a different medium, you may even get whole new subject matters and compositions that catch my eye. 

Film forces us to slow down

In a world of overstimulation and instant gratification, film brings slowness and precision back to your wedding day. When working with film, it’s usually a quick process for me to dial in the settings, but I do think carefully about what I capture before I click the shutter. I ensure everything looks good and there aren’t a ton of distractions in the background.

When I think about composition, lighting, backgrounds, wardrobe, etc, you can bet that I nail the shot 9 times out of 10. I am selective about the moments I capture with film, bringing intentionality (serendipity notwithstanding) to every one. I never overshoot on film, so the moments that are captured have a special significance highlighted through this unique and compelling visual language.

You will get digital sneak peeks quickly, but there’s a waiting process when you have to wait for the lab to develop the images. My lab is in Florida so it takes a week for the film to even get there! Then I have to wait until they get around to processing my rolls, which isn’t instant either.

After I receive the scans back, I don’t perform any further edits on them (turns out I’m a purist when it comes to film photography editing – complete opposite to my digital editing!).

It’s double the fun when it comes to gallery delivery day as you’ll see the film scans in their own tab in your gallery. 🤩

How fun is that?! It’s like the best, most delightful little bonus when you thought you were done seeing your wedding photos, you get to relive some of the key moments and detail but through a fresh lens and a different medium.

Film is unique – or at least, not that common

There aren’t too many photographers out there in the San Francisco Bay Area that offer film photography! It’s a time-consuming learning curve, and a considerable investment to purchase equipment, education, and not to mention film and developing plus time out of your day to send / drop off after each wedding. And it’s still a gamble whether you will be any good at it, or whether enough clients will want it to make it worthwhile!

Well, I took that gamble back in 2019 and have been refining my process and my eye every since! Truly, every single roll since then (and there have been a few hundred at this point) has taught me something.

I’ve arrived at a place I’m truly happy with – though it’s an ongoing journey for sure. I’m not a ‘film photographer’, nor would I ever want to be. It’s just a fun little bonus that I’m able to offer as an inexpensive add-on to your existing photography package. One that we all get to have some fun with. It’s not high pressure, it’s just vibes!

So my point is, I’ve developed this skill so that my clients have the option of adding this on without any fuss if the idea intrigues you. And hey if you aren’t as enamored with the shots, it’s no biggie, it’s not like you’ve wasted a great deal of money.

There are even fewer wedding photographers that offer film photography at San Francisco City Hall, so I hope that helps me stand out to those discerning couples that are interested in this! It’s something I’ve worked so hard on, as the building is actually really dark compared to the bright, sunny outdoor vibe that a lot of point and shoot / toy cameras work best in.

It takes a great deal of skill and experience to obtain good results in a setting that many would find challenging for film work.

Film images from San Francisco film wedding photographer

To wrap up

TL;DR: The resurgence of 35mm film photography in weddings taps into a desire for nostalgia and a timeless quality that digital images often miss. Film offers a distinctive “vibe” with grain, soft focus, and vibrant colors that evoke past decades. This aesthetic counters the overly curated perfection of digital photography.

Shooting with film encourages mindfulness and creativity due to the literal cost and limited shots per roll. The process adds anticipation and excitement. While digital is the standard for convenience and speed, incorporating film provides a refreshing alternative for distinctive images. For couples seeking a nostalgic, editorial look, film is worth considering.

Interested in learning more about how you can experience the joy of film photography on your wedding day? Reach out to chat about adding film to your San Francisco Bay Area wedding photo package!

Zoe Larkin

I’m Zoe, a wedding photographer based in San Francisco! My style is candid, capturing authentic moments for my couples all over the Bay Area and Northern California. Creating content is my passion! Follow along the blog and Insta!

Zoe Larkin Photography