I have pressed the go button on the SilverTone Studio website so I invite you to have a look at the photography services I provide.

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Photography is at a very interesting point in its development and history. Most people up to the age of about 30 have never held a film camera in their hands and have only known photography in its digital form. Increasingly this is experienced now only through the smartphone. The ‘selfie’ is probably the most ubiquitous form of photography being practised.

In my younger days you were usually a Canon or Nikon person as 35mm film photography dominated the popular photography market. I remember being a little shocked in about 2003 when someone told me that these two iconic brands had been overtaken by Nokia as the world’s biggest camera manufacturer.

There is, however, a growing interest in film photography by the under 30 generation. Cynics and curmudgeons might call this a vacuous, hipster infatuation as plastic medium format cameras like Lomo and Diana gain popularity among the smart set. Lowfi, imperfect images apparently being a reaction to the crass and infinitely sharp output from the smartphone. I don’t really mind as long as the demand for film continues! Many people over 30 are also returning to film, particularly the black and white medium, in search of something which seems more authentic, artistic and less instantaneous in its production.

I have spent almost 40 years working with film and maintain a fully functioning darkroom to develop and print black and white photographs. I am also very interested in preserving family history and encouraging people to protect and save negatives, slides and original prints. The options available today for high quality book production from digital images is one of the most exciting developments of the last 10 years. It has never been easier to create a book to share with family members or friends. These physical artefacts are much more likely to survive than zeroes and ones stuck on a hard drive somewhere.

If you have found a shoe box full of old slides, negatives or prints and don’t know what to do next, then perhaps I can help. There is magic lying within and it deserves to be exposed to a new audience!

Tony
SilverTone Studio