EX42 Think like a film photographer.
This week we are going to set ourselves a very strict set of constraints. They say ‘less is more’, and this week we are going to see how we feel about shooting less frames, and shooting more with intent.
Take more time on each photograph. Think about each one deeply, and only take the photograph once you are truly committed to using up one of your photographs in your roll of film.
We used to get 36 photographs in a long roll of 35mm film. I am being generous, because a short roll was 24, and medium format was roughly ten, depending on the aspect ratios.
When I shot film, I shot large format. It cost about $20, 30 years ago to press the shutter. I slowed down a lot. I had to save to process my films. Actually, I have a fridge of undeveloped and exposed film waiting for me to process one day.
So, this week you get 36 photographs. I would like you to stick with the one roll of 36 for at least four days, if not a week.
You don’t need a film camera to do this, you just need to only take 36 photographs in the period of time you set yourself.
Afterwards, please post a snapshot of your roll of all 36 photographs. On a Mac I use control & option 4. Then I can click and drag a rectangular shape over my 36 exposures and save it to the desktop. All computers have a shortcut to capture the whole screen.
Go though your 36 photographs and pick the best three to process and share with us in the comments bellow.
Write about how it felt to be constrained to only 36 photographs over four to seven days. Did it make you a more considered photographer? Did it slow you down? Did you photograph with more intent? Can you use this with your regular photographic practice?
36 photographs from one camera, all taken in a row, over three days at Dunsburough, Western Australia. You can check the actual file number to see that they are all taken consecutively, and that there were none removed. A few were under exposed, which I have corrected, a few I haven’t. Except for the first three, the rest were all taken on a tripod, which seems to slow me down, as does the 60 second exposures.
The Western Australian Coast near Dunsburough
The Western Australian Coast near Dunsburough
The Western Australian Coast near Dunsburough
To see the photographs larger, please click on each one to enable the lightbox. They will be much sharper and clearer to see.
Photographs and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2019
