The Days of Film vs the iPhone

Missing the sensation of cold metal pressed against my face

Loving the iPhone 17 Pro with a 48mp camera. This photo was shot at the Waikapu Cemetery on Maui. The image was transformed to black & white using the Snapseed app. Just upgraded from an iPhone 13... I was way behind the times!

Waikapu Cemetery on Maui shot with the iPhone 17 Pro. Image transformed to black & white using the Snapseed app with final details applied in Adobe Photoshop. November 21, 2025

The images from this phone are truly amazing although I miss the connection when you hold a single lens reflex against your eye and look through the viewfinder. On a cold day, shooting outside, I remember pressing the cold metal of the camera against your forehead providing a visceral “oneness” with the device. Today, when we take an iPhone photo, we are looking at a frame-in-a-frame, the LCD screen 18” away from our eyes.

As I look through my old negatives, I’m surprised by how few images I took of any one subject. If there was something in particular that was interesting, there might be 2-3 frames but more often than not, there’s just a single frame. In the “film” days, every frame was an investment in not just the film, but the processing of the negatives, making a contact sheet, and making prints.