Why everyone and their dog is falling in love with film photos again

From celebrities to teenagers, everyone was obsessed with #Huji in 2018, unaware they would soon move from a filter to the real thing.

Photo centres in Canberra have reported witnessing a phenomenal rise in film photography, the demand for rolls and development services.

A part of this revival has come from young people curious about a bygone era, many choosing to pick up items like film cameras, record players and typewriters.

Jacob Sherd has been obsessed with an old film camera he found in an antique shop in 2022. The 12-year-old has not left home without it since, because film photography has turned into his "habit".

Last year he became the youngest member of a local centre teaching people how to shoot and print film photos.

"I found a course there and my mom and dad were willing to pay," he said, smiling ear to ear.

Jacob learned how to develop his own black and white film at PhotoAccess and eventually began surfing YouTube to learn more about film photography.

He has collected nine more cameras so far, including a Kodak box brownie from the 1950s.

"I find it interesting how you would develop film ... it's kind of a fun waiting game," Jacob said.

The shutterbug preferred the look of film over digital photos, even though the latter would be a much cheaper hobby.

"Sometimes I can see the grain on film photos and it makes me realise, 'Oh, this is something that's physically here and it's going to be here for probably hundreds of years'," said Jacob, who is often caught developing film in the downstairs bathroom.

A film roll of 24 frames costs about $25 before the cost to develop, scan and print photos (anywhere between $20-$50 per roll).

Amateur photographer and former Canberra Theatre Centre director Bruce Carmichael has been shooting film since the 1970s. He also spent three years studying film photography at the Canberra Institute of Technology in the early '90s.

Mr Carmichael found film development to be "a little bit like cooking" and mentioned an old joke people were attracted to "analog everything" because of the inconvenience.

"[Dark rooms] are very hard to keep it clean and dust-free. Dust is the enemy of film and printing. You've got to be very clever with the chemicals, make sure everything is at the right temperature and you mix them up correctly," Mr Carmichael said.

Although he's a keen student of the digital format, he thinks people want to return to the slower processes, analysis and care behind film photos.

"You understand how a different type of film or doing something to a film is going to impact the final image," he said.

"It becomes more of an artistic expression than just a recording of events."

There is also the view film never really went out of style and has simply become mainstream.

Supermarket chains selling rolls have made it easier to buy film, while guests finding disposable cameras on their tables at weddings have boosted popularity.

Alex Robinson, director of the ACT's oldest photographic institution PhotoAccess (est. 1984), said people had been dropping off 20 to 30 rolls from their weddings for processing.

Mr Robinson had noticed a "huge" uptake in people wanting to learn the film development process in recent years, estimating a 30 per cent increase in the non-profit's revenue from developing rolls in 2024.

He suspected this was a reaction to "digital fatigue", especially with younger people.

"We see digital images everywhere on television, on phones. I think not having to look at a screen to see an image is just a different experience," he said.

We are in times where social media feeds can be refreshed to no end, everyone has a digital camera in their pocket, and taking more than one photo of something is not a luxury.

As such, Mr Robinson believed younger people wanted to discover tangible ways to create pictures, from being able to examine film prints to noticing the smell of chemicals used in developed baths.

Ted's Cameras manager Rory Moore said there had been tremendous growth in demand for film development in eastern capital cities.

In exciting news for customers, he said instead of sending rolls to Sydney the business would be installing a film development machine in its Canberra branch.

"We've just installed new film processing machines in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane ... and we're putting a lab into Canberra now as well because of it," Mr Moore said.