Topic: Shoot More Film Darn-It!

[Ron]

Just the facts (or pretty close):

W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh photographs amounted to some 17,000 images over the course of a year.  Robert Frank shot over 700 rolls of film during his travels for The Americans (there are +/- 83 images in the book).  Kenro Izu, on the other hand, takes no more than 80 sheets of film at a time with him on his world travels (he uses specially-made ultra-large format, though - 14x20 me thinks, which is big-ass film).  Take more images and attempt to make every one count.  Oh, yeah, have fun 

[beck]

That's interesting to know...and impressive, no doubt, the masters. I just had a conversation about volume with Tread and him telling me about Meatyard and how he would shoot all year long without processing them, only to take a brief break and develop every single roll and have them hung. Inspiring. I can't even imagine what I was able to accumulate just from this past year...probably nothing very exciting...but I'm getting out there. And yes, have fun.

[Ron]

I had read something along those lines about Meatyard, wonderful fact - he was so fascinating and lived way, way too shortly.  Ever seen the book,  The Unforeseen Wilderness?  Meatyard's landscape work is quite refreshing and the text is very well-written.  I reallyyy, reallyyy want to see Of and About the Head.   I think is was put out by the Howard Greenberg Gallery and is an exhibit catalogue of Meatyard's??  Anyone seen it?  Ralph is at the tip-top of my favs list.

[outofcontxt]

And let's not forget the 2500 unprocessed rolls of film Gary Winogrand left after he died. My kind of guy. Shoot film til' ya drop. Certainly my plan!

[Ed Wenn]

While this IS an interesting thread (thanks Ron) it really just makes me realise how the 1 hour a week on average that I manage to spend on all photography-related pursuits (including forum posts like this) really isn't enough for me to even start doing my questionable talent in this area any justice at all. Sure, I have fun doing it, but frequently I just end up getting frustrated. I think this lack of time is why I've gone 180 degrees and after 3 years using mostly toy cameras I now find myself using 35mm SLRs almost exclusively....I don't have time for serendipity anymore

On the plus side I do have a shitload of cute baby photos 

[Ron]

thanks ed!  these folks have more time, talent and resources than i have for sure.  I am with you - it is a miracle for me to make the time, get the time, take the time to do the thing called photography.  this past week I had a dense 4x5 neg i actually took to work (+30 miles from my house) and did a contact print in a printing frame I left on my car's dashboard!  i shot 4 sheets of film last weekend and that is the most sheet film I have ever shot at one time in my life.  i didn't shoot much at all this weekend, but did get 1 nice print done.  i have 3 kids from 20 mo. to 8 yrs old and life is busy.  but hey, I have some cute kid photos too and when it's all said and done if we shoot (no pun intended) for the stars maybe we will hit the moon   

[Tammy]

Time.  ack.  Tell me about it!    Interesting tidbits of info.  I need to make more time to read and to browse the books.  Thanks for sparking my interest, Ron.  And, boy howdy, yes!! Shoot more film.  Cute baby pics too.  Why not?!

I have 11 rolls of 35mm color in the fridge stashed away from the past 3 months.  4 rolls of 120 bw, and 2 rolls of slides.  A few rolls of 35mm bw.  I think I have a few sheets of 4x5 up on the shelf that I shot on an outing in January.  I put a piece of photo paper in my box for pinhole day, and I believe it's also still sitting there. 

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one shooting film and stashing it away.  But, come to think of it, once it's developed, I stash the negs away and rarely make prints.  Even color prints, since my lab has been onn the sucking end of bad on the color thing for awhile now.

Hey, I like the act of photography.  I sometimes think that my lack of developing stuff is because I'm deep down afraid that I've failed.  If I let a few more rolls get in, I ultimately even forget what it was that I was shooting and so it's more of a surprise when I get around to developing.

[Janet_P]

time versus shots, it sure is tough.
I find myself setting up shots at home more and more, because I don't have time to do anything else.
Andrew Sanderson's Home Photography book is an inspiration to those of us who aren't able to get out and about as much as we'd like.
Then again, I'm guessing nobody here has time to take all the photos they'd like to take, kids or no kids, even those who practice photography professionally.

Janet