I was low on 35mm film so I ordered 10 rolls of Tri-X from B&H because it was cheaper than HP5 for some reason. Film is expensive, and shopping for it isn't fun.

The high cost of film often makes me consider moving completely to digital, but I just can't do it.

Whenever I go out using both a film and digital camera, I always end up preferring the film shots. It doesn't matter that the digital photos are cleaner, sharper, higher resolution, and more editable in post. It doesn't matter that the film photos are more often out of focus or poorly exposed or that there are fewer of them. I prefer them.

If I have two nearly identical photos of the same thing, one film and one digital, just knowing which image is made on film makes that image more meaningful to me. I like the imperfections and random failures. I like not knowing what something will look like until later. It makes the winners that much more valuable to me. I like knowing the original negative is in a binder on my shelf, forever.

I can convert a digital image to black and white, adjust it to my heart's content, and easily print it on the inkjet printer. It'll be just about perfect. Or, I can mix a bunch of chemicals, fumble around in the dark with ancient equipment, and make a curled up darkroom print with crushed blacks and full of dust spots. I'd rather have the darkroom print.

I still prefer film.