A roll a day

[Jeffrey A. Steinberg]

My secret is I carry around a small rangefinder--a Leica M7. I have a 28mm lens and set it to hyperfocal and shoot from my waist when people are not looking.

I just carry my camera everywhere. I stopped some garbage men the other day and got them riding off, holding onto the back. It was a fun shot.

I am lucky if I get 1 or 2 good shots out of 36.

[Toffle]

The other option is shoot just frame a day. National Geo did a spread on a well know photog (just recall his name at the moment) who shot just 1 roll of Ektrachrome at one frame a day near his house in the northern woods. I think the one frame a day really teachs how to see. I have intending to attempt to shoot a frame a day but just have the time.

I remember this feature very well. At first I thought it was something of a gimmick, but I found that there were many lessons to be learned through the exercise. There is much to be said for the discipline of selecting, composing and exposing a single scene every day. I imagine it must be a daunting task to ensure that each frame meets the standards you set yourself as a photographer. No mulligans, no back up rolls... ouch!

Further on the "Roll a day" theme. I work mainly in B&W, which I process myself, but I also have a sizeable store of AGFA Optima for special occasions. Medium format colour processing is not cheap around here. (I'm actually shocked at how expensive it is for processing, plus 5" by 5" prints and a scanned cd.) If I shot a roll a day, I'm afraid I would have to sell my cameras before the month was out.

Cheers,

[Lee Shively]

I had to get home to double-check on this. The Photographer Paul mentioned was Jim Brandenburg, as I said. The book that ensued was Chased By Light. A few years after the initial book was published there was a second edition published that included follow up photographs of the area pictured following a storm that devastated much of the surroundings. I have both books--they are a couple of my favorites. I didn't pull them down to check but I believe Brandenburg used Fuji negative film on this project. Probably as a hedge against missing the exposure since the project was liimited to one frame of 35mm film a day. He was a brave man to take on this project.

I've also read an interview with William Eggleston in which he was asked how much he shoots to get his photos. He said he takes one frame only of each subject. If he misses it, he doesn't worry about it. He said there's always another picture to be shot.

[Hovig]

Thanks for the idea, I liked it. ONE frame a day! My Olympus OM-1n is not much bigger then the M7.