Rediscovering Film: My Journey Back

For the past 12 years, a single roll of film has been kicking around in my fridge, patiently waiting to be developed. Life has taken me in a few different directions over the past few years. This was one last roll I hadn’t gotten a chance to develop before graduating community college. I took these photos as my parents were moving out of the little house I grew up in. And while the roll stayed cool and safe, my passion for film photography waited quietly in the background with it. That roll of film symbolized a part of myself that I kept hidden for some reason, yet I never lost hope that I would eventually develop it one day...

And I finally have!

Today, that roll represents something new – the beginning of my business, Hicks Film Studio. The start of a dream I’ve managed to hold onto for the last 12 years! It’s my way of coming full circle from the most humble place, rediscovering the magic of film photography, and sharing it with others. Hicks Film Studio is more than just a business; it’s a tribute to the timeless beauty of film, a bridge between the past and the present. It’s about honoring the now rare tradition of darkroom photography while keeping the art alive for a new generation.

This is Hicks Film Studio!

My love affair with film photography started in community college. I’d grown up watching my dad use his medium format Rolleiflex, the mechanical click of the shutter a sound as mesmerizing as the images it produced. Those black-and-white photographs were magic to me—hauntingly beautiful and somehow more artistic than their colorful counterparts.

I used to sit and listen to his stories of late nights in the darkroom back in high school, the way he's tinker with the lights and chemicals to manipulate how the images would turn out. It always blew my mind how the picture would magically "appear" on the paper when it'd hit the developer. It was inevitable, really. When I had the chance to enroll in a photography class at my local community college, I jumped at it. I had to see for myself what it was all about.

And I was hooked.

The darkroom became my safe place. Bathed in the dim red glow, I found a quiet connection to the moments, shapes, and patterns I’d captured on film. The world outside melted away as I stood there, surrounded by the smell of chemicals and the rhythmic trickle of water in the wash bath. Time seemed to stop, and I lost myself in the entire process.

Digital photography, for all its convenience, never captured my heart in the same way. It’s not that I don’t respect it—it’s a powerful medium, and it certainly has its place. But film feels different. Maybe it’s the tactile nature of it, the weight of a camera loaded with film in my hands. Maybe it’s the connection to history, as if I’m preserving a tradition from a world before me. Or maybe it’s the methodic patience it demands, the way it makes me slow down and truly consider each frame. Whatever it is,...

Film feels like home.

After college, life had some other plans for me. I drifted away from photography, the darkroom left behind as I graduated community college and moved away. But that itch never disappeared. And now, after years of letting it linger in the background, I’m finally returning to it.

Rediscovering film feels like reconnecting with an old friend. It’s a reminder of why I fell in love with photography in the first place, a chance to immerse myself once more in the magic of the darkroom. There’s something timeless about this art form, something I’m not ready to let slip away.

So here I am, back where it all began. Ready to capture moments, breathe life into the shadows, and preserve this piece of history—one roll of film at a time.

~ Molly