Analog Photography - My Story

 Hello!

It's me, the person who created this blog. I don't know if we've officially met. My name is Samantha, and I consider myself an amateur photographer. I am currently in college at the University of North Florida, and although I'm only minoring in photography, I still have hopes to work with photography for my future career. Whatever that will be. This post is going to be all about how I first discovered analog photography, and why I still love it today.




If you've visited my other blog posts, you've seen this camera (and this exact photo) before. This camera was actually my grandfather's. I began getting more into photography about 6 years ago, and I was lucky enough to be given this SLR film camera by my grandparents. It's a Minolta SRT 101, and it was made in the 1960s. This was my very first film camera. Technically, it was my first fully manual camera, as I didn't get a DSLR until the next year. The first roll of film I put through it didn't turn out great, but it definitely had that vintage grainy feel to it. Here was the first photo from that roll (from around 2015):


It doesn't look like much, but the fact that it turned out at all was impressive. This is considering I didn't know anything about camera operation at this point, and I was basically winging it. For comparison, here's one of the more recent photographs I've taken with that camera (from 2021):


After going through the process of loading the film, winding it up, changing all the settings to match the film and the setting, I fell in love with the entire process of film photography. It is so hands on and involved, and the mystery of what your photo will turn out like is so intriguing. I will never turn back. If you view some of my other posts, you can see my collection of cameras, including some film ones. And, if you're interested in film photography, you can check out my Q&A on it to find out more!


Here are a few of my favorite photographs I've taken with film cameras, including some point-and-shoots.

Minolta SRT 101










Canon Snappy (point-and-shoot)




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