I think film-style photography is having a moment again, and honestly, I am loving it.
I adore the soft, grainy, slightly imperfect look that feels so nostalgic. The muted tones, the gentle colours, the little bit of grain, the way the light feels less clinical and more… alive.
Maybe it’s because I grew up surrounded by photographs that weren’t perfectly sharp or meticulously edited. They had little imperfections. They had grain. They had slightly strange colours sometimes. And yet, those are often the photographs that feel the most meaningful to me now.
For a while, photography seemed to move in the opposite direction. Everything became incredibly crisp, sharp and polished. Skin was flawless, colours were clean, details were razor sharp and every image looked beautifully perfect.
And don't get me wrong, I still love a beautifully crisp photograph. But lately, I’ve been craving something a little softer. Something that feels like a memory rather than a photograph. So this summer, I decided to experiment. I edited my entire summer gallery in a film-inspired style. And somewhere along the way, I completely fell in love with it.
The grain. The warmth. The slightly faded colours. The softness. The feeling that the photographs have existed for years, even though they were taken five minutes ago.
It made me look at my own work differently.
Instead of asking myself, “Is this perfectly sharp?”, I found myself asking, “Does this feel like a memory?”
And I think that’s what I love most about it.
Because when I look back at photographs of my own children, I don't necessarily want them to look perfect. I want them to feel like them. I want to remember the messy hair, the hazy summer light, the little hands, the moments that weren't posed, and the way those days actually felt.
But now I’m wondering…
Would my clients love it too?
Would you choose a photograph with a little grain and softness over the super crisp, polished version?
Do you like that nostalgic, editorial, film-inspired look, or do you prefer your family photographs clean, bright and incredibly sharp?
Let me know!
Perhaps this is the fun part of photography. Styles evolve, trends come and go, and sometimes you stumble across something that makes you fall in love with photography all over again.
For now, I'm very happily living in my little film era. 🎞️
And if you’ve been wondering why my recent photographs have a slightly different feel to them…
Well, now you know.
I think I may have found a new favourite.
