Recently I met a new friend for coffee (I actually had hot chocolate) and among other things we talked about photography. He used film years ago and still had an old Pentax K1000 sitting around somewhere. Now he was using a new Nikon digital model. What was interesting was his notion that in comparing film vs. digital and all that goes into producing the final result … a print … that the whole analog approach is very much like a ritual. After our get together I began thinking about this more, and after some cogitation I think he’s right!

Compared to the “digital workflow”, the analog process and the black and white analog process in particular really are ritual … a meaningful system of rites.  When you think about it there are many steps, some more mechanical and some that are truly creative but cannot occur without those mechanical steps. But there is something else that is so important … craft … and just as important, there’s a pride that accompanies one’s craft.

The many necessary steps, the creativity and the craft … the ritual of black and white analog photography takes place take over a period of time. Loading film into your camera, locating the subject and taking a meter reading, setting the proper exposure, framing the subject, eventually developing the film and proofing the negatives, examining proof sheets and hopefully finding a keeper or two, then after multiple tries determining the formula to make the best print you can, watching the image of that print emerge in the developer and finally completing all the final steps necessary to ensure the print will become a permanent statement of your vision.

At this point you realize you have made the best print you can of the image you first saw in your mind’s eye. The final result truly expresses your innermost feelings.  And now the ritual of black and white analog photography is complete.