Kodak Gold 200 film is a popular choice and one of the most affordable stocks you can get, but the 120 format version was discontinued, much to the disappointment of medium format film photographers. Well, after some well-known folk in film photography — at least insofar as social media — kept asking for it, Kodak decided to deliver.
It feels as if film photography ebbs and flows in popularity. The time since it was the only option has grown so vast that many newer photographers are unlikely to have even seen film photography happening in person, even by a grandparent. As the gap has grown, curiosity for photography's roots has grown too and we have seen several resurgences into film photography in recent years. Some called it a fad but it isn't going anywhere fast and its cult following is only growing.
I've always found it difficult to explain what it is that attracts me to film photography so much. There's a more tactile process and the delayed gratification is a change of pace, but even the results I find pleasing, even if I could recreate a similar look in post-production on a digital file. For whatever reason, there are a few YouTubers and content creators who capture a part of the essence of film photography that attracts me, and Vuhlandes is certainly one of them.
In this beautiful, almost visual essay, Vuhlandes talks through finally getting one of his favorite film stocks back after Kodak replied directly to his pleas for it.
