Getting started with film

There is a moment — the one right after you press the shutter and before you know if you got anything — that digital never really gives you. Film bought me that moment.

I bought my first film camera at a flea market for twenty euros. It was beat up, the light seals were gone, and half the frames came back fogged. I loved every single one. The fog looked like the memory of the morning instead of a recording of it.

The cameras

• The twenty-euro one — still my favourite, still unreliable.
• A Pentax K1000 — reliable, boring, perfect.
• A point-and-shoot — for nights out when I want the mood, not the sharpness.

What I learned

The best thing film taught me is patience. You have thirty-six frames, so you wait for the light instead of chasing it. You look twice before you shoot once.

Digital is not worse. It is just louder. Some afternoons you want to hear yourself think.