Am I Falling Out of Love with Film?

It’s a question that’s been sitting quietly in the background for a little while now.

Am I falling out of love with film?

I didn’t notice it all at once. There wasn’t a moment where I put a roll through a camera and thought, that’s it, I’m done. It’s been slower than that. Subtle.

I’ve just been reaching for my digital camera more.

It’s always there. Ready. No cost per frame. No waiting. No backlog of rolls to develop, scan, and find time for. In a season of life that already feels full — decorating, preparing to move, family, work — that ease matters more than I expected it to.

Film asks more of you.

Time. Space. Patience. Intentionality.

And right now, those things feel a little harder to come by.

That doesn’t mean the love has gone.

Because when I do pick up a film camera, something still shifts. I slow down. I think more. I pay attention in a different way. It’s not just about the image — it’s about the process, the anticipation, the unknown.

But it’s also harder to ignore the friction.

The cost of film. The time it takes to develop and scan. The growing pile of rolls waiting for “when I get a moment.” Film has started to feel less like a rhythm, and more like something I need to catch up with.

And that changes things.

Digital, on the other hand, has quietly become a kind of companion. Not as romantic, maybe. Not as tactile. But present. Faithful in its own way. Ready when I have five minutes, not five hours.

I’ve even found myself experimenting more because of it — trying IR filters, body cap lenses, things I probably wouldn’t risk or prioritise on film. There’s a freedom in that.

So am I falling out of love with film?

I don’t think so.

I think I’m just in a different season.

A season where life is a bit fuller, time is a bit tighter, and photography has to fit into the gaps rather than shape the day. Digital fits that space better right now.

Film hasn’t lost its place — it’s just waiting.

And maybe that’s the right way to see it.

Not as something I’m leaving behind, but something I’ll return to when there’s more room for it again. When I can give it the time it deserves, rather than squeezing it in between everything else.

If anything, this season might be doing something good.

Stripping things back. Removing pressure. Letting photography be simple again — whether that’s digital or film.

Because at the end of it all, it was never really about the medium.

It was about noticing.

And that hasn’t gone anywhere.