Isn’t It Really About Making Every Shot Count?

Safe to say you probably own a smart phone and according to statistics, at some point today, you will take at least two or more photos with that phone.

This could explain the emergence of an entire new class of retro photo apps. But, if you think about it, you are taking a state-of-the-art digital camera and purposely dumbing it down to become nothing more than a cardboard instant camera, similar to the ones that you used to pack on vacation.

So the big question is: Why?

Many of these apps – including, of course, Instagram – give you the ability to add “retro filters” to your photos. While other apps not only change the “look and feel” of your photos, they also change the whole process of taking these photos.

The latest example is the Gudak Cam app, which bills itself as a “disposable film camera in your iPhone.” The key to the app’s charm is the waiting process – once you take a photo, you can’t preview it. You have to wait 3 days to have the photo “developed”.

It’s easy to dismiss these apps as just a phenomenon. But I think there’s something more going on here. You can call it the Analog Nostalgia Factor.

We realize how much we are missing from our old analog days. But what exactly are we missing? One thing, for certain, is the anticipation and excitement of waiting days to see our photos developed. Remember how excited you used to be to run down to the local pharmacy to see how your vacation photos turned out?

You couldn’t preview the photos, so you really didn’t know what to expect. Some photos turned out blurry and others had thumb smudges on them. But you put your very best into every photo, knowing that you had only one chance to get it right. Scarcity mattered and even imperfection mattered, because they forced us to be better.

My two cents as a professional cinematographer & photographer… if you ask me, retro photo apps are not really about making photos better, they’re about “taking” better photos. They’re about transporting us back to an earlier day, to rekindle that feeling of having to take the time and care to make every shot count. A reminder there’s still something pretty special and nostalgic about being able to pause time for a moment… and then… capture it.