A relationship strained
Because the 30 deg F high today is going to be the warmest it will be all week, I took the opportunity to walk up to Gamma in order to drop of my recently completed roll of film from my pinhole camera. The camera takes 120 roll film and, given how poorly my last rolls of film faired at the hands of Wolf Camera (who sends it out to who knows where), I thought it better to let the professionals do the processing.
I've not been to Gamma in a long while (because I've not been shooting 120 film or 35mm slide film recently) and so I did not know that they've instituted a minimum charge of $10 for all orders. As I only wanted my film developed (normally a $5.50 charge) I now have to pay $10.90 for the same service. This additional cost has put something of a strain on my already tenuous relationship with film.
I enjoy film, especially the much larger negatives produced by 120 film. I don't subscribe to "Film vs. Digital" arguments because film and digital image capture are not mutually exclusive. Film is simply a different medium than digital just like painting is different than sculpture.
Shooting with my Holga camera and my pinhole (both of which take 120 film) is a /fun/ process. It's so different than shooting digital or even 35mm film. But using these cameras, due to the film, is also a pretty significant expense. Or rather, my approach to photography means shooting film is very expensive, especially if you're looking at anything outside the color (C41) 35mm world. The most cost-effective solution to shooting film actually seems to be to return to true B&W photography. Souping your own chemicals and developing your own film at home can be done for pennies, but requires a decent buy-in of hardware and is time consuming.
The middle-ground of "occasional" film users is now washed away. The digital market has reduced demand far enough that consolidation and elimination of luxuries like inexpensive 3rd party processing for the amateur is, at least in Chicago, a thing of the past. Couple this with the amount of work it takes to either print the images or scan them (at questionable quality) and I have to closely examine my relationship with film. Digital's low cost per-shot has made film's expenses too large to be comfortable with anymore. Yet I've maintain a fridge full of film waiting to be shot…nay, wanting to be shot.
I'm not sure how to proceed. Sell the film at a considerable loss? Use the film at considerable expense of both time and money? There's no clear path.