The Future of Film Photography???
Watching the current state of film-based photography from a commercial standpoint causes me to contemplate the future of film. There seems to be a small renaissance happening driven in part by the Lomography movement and the overall retro trend as shown in the resurgence of vinyl. Part of this is driven from a historical interest and curiosity. So with the collapse of many emulsions from Kodak and Fuji and the complete loss of many film and paper companies such as Forte, Oriental Seagull, Kentmere etc it seemed the industry was in a steep decline from the early 2000's. This may have plateaued as there is less news of closures and discontinued product lines lately. Indeed Ilford seems to be secure with new emulsions turning up and their re-establishment of direct positive paper emulsions. Foma has introduced a new Retro 320 film and of course Ferrania is heartening in their progress with plans to resurrect old emulsions. How long this remains a trend will be difficult to predict