WEX Photo Video Nottingham – Back to Silver Halide
By rights film photography should have been finished off by digital technology, but instead it’s regrouped and is now making something of a spirited comeback. Wex Nottingham’s Assistant Manager Elliot Knott admits to being a convert, and loves what silver halide has to offer.
FOR THOSE THAT struggled back in the day with the challenges that film photography presented, such as the need to get exposure spot on in-camera, the time lag between pressing the shutter and seeing the final result and the need to work with fixed ISO speeds, the arrival of digital technology was the clarion call for a new and more convenient way of working. And yet…
For an increasing number of creatives, the undoubted imperfections of silver halide, and the slower and more methodical way of working that it imposes, are actually part of its attraction. For the converted there’s a sense of having to be more of an artisan to extract the best results from a film emulsion, and there’s also the added kudos of a direct connection with some of the great photographers of the past, who made their names without the benefit of instant gratification.
One of those definitely in the pro-film corner is Elliot Knott, assistant manager at Wex in Nottingham. With a 2:1 Honours Degree in Commercial Photography from Norwich University of the Arts he left further education and started out on his professional career shooting weddings, club nights and music events, covering gigs by the likes of The Streets, Chase & Status and Yungblud. “While I was enjoying what I was doing I still felt something was missing,” he recalls. “My work had become fast, transactional and all about quick results and paid jobs. I wanted to slow down and reconnect with the craft itself, so I returned to study for a Master’s degree.
“That’s when I realised a core truth about my photography: my images were full of people, and yet I didn’t actually like this kind of photography. I craved quiet, space and intention. That was when I picked up a Canon EOS 5 SLR and began experimenting with long exposure film photography, exploring British urban landscapes at night and realising I’d discovered my vocation.
“Working with film forced me to slow down and think deeply about every frame. The result was a final MA showcase, sponsored by PermaJet, that featured eight large format prints, each with an eerie, atmospheric quality that came from familiar spaces being shown empty, their human traces still lingering.”
