Why Abu Dhabi’s Gen Z is falling for film photography

Abu Dhabi- Abu Dhabi is a city that moves fast. Skylines rise, neighbourhoods transform, and every moment can be captured, filtered and posted in seconds. Yet a growing group of young residents is slowing down on purpose, loading a roll of film and waiting days to see what they caught.

The first spark rarely came from a screen. It came from a mother’s closet, a grandfather’s albums and, in one case, a stranger in a camera-shop queue.

For one Abu Dhabi photographer, Fatima Al Kaabi, an Emirati inventor and an entrepreneur, the pull of analogue imagery began as a middle-schooler with an Instax Mini and photographs of friends. She draws her inspiration from her grandfather’s collection.

Fatima Al Marar, another Emirati from Abu Dhabi called it an extremely delicate process as she recalled her uncle working on developing photographs. “My uncle is a huge film fan, he actually develops his own photos at home,”

The story starts at home

Al Kaabi’s grandfather keeps albums full of portraits shot on Polaroid and vintage film cameras. “Whenever I need inspiration, I go back to those albums,” she said. What she loves most is the ritual around them: “everyone gathered around the camera, taking a photo, and looking at it together.” Phones, according to her, are pulling us away from that experience.

Meanwhile, Zoha Taqi, Abu Dhabi resident and social media manager by profession, remembers her earliest encounter with film as a kind of treasure hunt. “Rummaging through my mom’s closet to find her photobooks,” is how she described her beginning.  

The thrill of physical images

Taqi would spend hours “taking the pictures out of their sleeves to feel them physically and be transported to the moment that specific picture had been clicked.” Her verdict was short: “It was like magic.”

Al Kaabi said that film photography was later reintroduced by her college friend. “I started shooting with disposable cameras and fell in love with film culture in the US.”

She chose vintage cameras as an eco-friendly option, and that later became her permanent setup.  “I brought that practice back home, and now I'm working on ideas to share it with this generation.”

Part of film’s pull is how it works. Operations manager working in Abu Dhabi, Prabhjot Singh describes the process with a sense of wonder. The light “leaves its mark in these tiny grains that later become the picture.”

For a generation raised on screens, it’s a revelation. “We just tapped a screen and the photos are there,” he said.

To Singh, retro images felt warmer and more real. While Taqi said that a film camera just feels really important and magical to her.

Abu Dhabi through their lens

For these photographers, film is also about Abu Dhabi’s own history. Taqi recently read a history book on Abu Dhabi and noticed that nearly every photograph in it was taken on film.

She said those images preserve details like 'the way the light used to fall on the sand dunes, the glimmer of a sword held by a soldier, and the texture of the coffee they used to drink.'

In Abu Dhabi, vintage-style photography can tell stories about everyday life in the past, traditional livelihoods and crafts such as fishing and weaving, or customs surrounding Arabic coffee and celebrations, according to Marwa Waheed Eldemerdash, Art Director for Fine Art Portrait Photography, Abu Dhabi

Al Kaabi sees shooting film today as a way of continuing a tradition. “A way of honouring how our elders documented their lives,” she said. “Shooting on film today feels like continuing that tradition rather than just copying a look.”

Al Marar said that anyone who looks up photographs of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan will find him holding a wide variety of cameras, adding that the late leader had a deep love for freezing moments.

Photographs as memories for GenZ

In a city defined by rapid change and digital ambition, young creators are returning to instant prints, vintage cameras and family albums to make memories they can hold.

To Singh who uses an old Pentax SLR, the photos weren't perfect, but they felt like real memories.

Al Marar speaks about the depth of effort that goes into vintage photography both physically and emotionally. “It is more appealing to me than just pointing at something and shooting, then later forgetting you took a picture because of how low-effort new technology is.”