I still miss Fuji Velvia

While getting ready to post some of my lighthouse images I rediscovered this image of the Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California taken with Fuji Velvia 50. Personally, this is one of my most cherished images and it so encompasses why people become enamored with photography. Standing on a windswept breakwater in mid June I was blessed with watching a remarkable sunset and  captured the essence of what lighthouses meant to those who sailed the seas in days gone by; a light that led one to the safety of a friendly port at the end of the day. But equally meaningful was the remarkable color tonality that Velvia gave to the moment. An image I could hold in my hand rather than post process.As good as digital cameras have gotten and as we go through the next round of manufacture announcements, they will continue to just get better. But for all these improvements, number of pixels, expand dynamic range, video, etc, still lost to this advancing world is the almost sensual feel that one got from shooting Fuji Velvia. Velvia is an irreplaceable analogue combination of colors and chemistry that software and hardware cannot match, as much as some have tried. Even me, as indicated in an earlier post (Fuji Velvia and Digital Photography) have tried to come up with a process that produces these results. But as I said then, I fell short of achieving that loving quality that Velvia so often gave to moments like this.So, as much as I love what digital photography has given to us, at times I still miss Fuji Velvia.