Back in the day, before digital was even a concept with photography, I used to make every effort to produce “perfect” negatives. Film grain was a dirty word and I frequently worked with very slow speed film in order to not have the appearance of grain in my final images. I washed and dried my film with distilled water in order to avoid streaks. I corrected every little bit of dust and avoided scratching my negatives at all cost.
I wanted a certain sense of realism in the final images and I didn’t want the aesthetic characteristics of film to get in the way of that. Fast forward to the world we live in here in 2026 and all that has changed.
Now I take the opposite approach and see the characteristics inherent to working with film as a sort of badge of honor. Film images will never have the level of detail and clarity of a digital capture and you know what? Thank goodness for that!! Bring on the grain, and the dust, and whatever “flaw” that may occur during the development or printing process in my make shift home darkroom. Perfection need not be the goal. Impressionist painters figured this out over a century ago. It is time photographers did the same.
This small collection of images I made on an outing with Foofie near Sauvie Isaland are a perfect example of this. There is a large streak moving across the frame in every one of these images, likely caused from water drying too quickly on the negatives after development. This makes perfect sense considering I developed these on a day that was 95+ degrees out.
I could very easily go back and re-wash these negatives to remove the streaks but I’m not going to bother. I like them the way they are. There is a movement to them that matches well with the energy of the model and the storm clouds that were lingering over our head. I didn’t plan to have the streaks in the final image, but I’m not angry that they are there either.
So instead of fretting about the streaks, I’m just going to enjoy their existance and consider them part of the final image.
I guess the lesson of the day here is that there is no wrong way to be a photographer. Get to know your materials and work with them in a way that fits your needs. I’m sure there are many people working with film that still crave that “perfect” negative. I’m just no longer one of them.
Camera: Hasselblad 500c/m camera with 50mm f/4 lens.
Film: Ilford HP5 400 in medium format.
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