Re: Too much: was Re: [Leica] europe on 1 roll a day

["Julian Thomas" <julianthomas@terra.es>]

When were you in Barcelona?? I live two mins from La Pedrera, that roof is
amazing!

Julian
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Dante A. Stella" <dante@umich.edu>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2001 3:37 AM
Subject: Too much: was Re: [Leica] europe on 1 roll a day


>
>
> Kyle Cassidy wrote:
>
> > frank's thinking of going to europe and only bringing a brick of film
...
> >
>
> Is Kyle wanting to take too much film?
>
> 40 rolls of 36 is 1440 exposures +/-.
> 20 rolls of 36 is 720 exposures
>
> In the past year, I have completed two 21-day trips to Europe, having
> photographed everything I saw as even conceivably photogenic and I shot
far,
> far less film.  On trips of this length, I usually take 8 rolls of Supra
400
> (or in the past, PMC) and 24 rolls of TX120 (at 15 exposures each).
That's
> 360 + 288, or 648 frames.  This, in my experience, has provided ample
> opportunity to:
>
> o    Shoot color duplicates of black and white shots taken in 120 as well
as
> different angles
>
> o    Do realistic and calculated bracketing with the medium format camera
>
> o    Take plenty of color pictures of my girlfriend in front of things.
>
> o    Take plenty of people "grab shots."
>
> This program works out to about 17 frames in 120 and 13 frames of 35mm per
> day, or less than one roll of 36.  In 11 trips to Europe and 1 trip
through
> southeast Asia, this rate has generally held.  If you are into completely
> indiscriminate street shooting, I can't say that this would be enough.
>
>
> > 40 rolls of film doesn't take up that much space -- take them out of the
> > plastic cannisters and the cardboard boxes first. you'll be fine.
>
> This is not solely a matter of space (for me it is space too, given the
size
> of the bags I take), but really one of discipline.  I don't think you need
to
> take a ton of film (especially not color neg).  I have always found that
the
> more film I have (or the cheaper it is), the worse the photos and the more
> indiscriminately they are made.
>
> o    Take it easy, appreciate the sight, and wait until the correct
moment.
> Doing this not only helps you learn about what it is you are taking a shot
> of, but it also prevents you from rationalizing not paying attention
because
> "you will have a picture of it later."
>
> o    Work to take the picture that no one else has taken (or could take).
> Don't make a photo that anyone can duplicate (or better) by buying a
> Kodachrome postcard from a street vendor.
>
> o    Think of every color picture as costing 75 cents and each picture you
> print yourself  costing $100.  Make each picture count.  Life is too short
to
> waste it printing or sorting bad pictures that could have been prevented
with
> a little effort.
>
> Here is the making of this week's (travel) picture,
>
> http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dante/settimana2.html
>
> which shows the quick grab banal "notebook" shot (color) and then the more
> studied black and white version.
>
> They were taken about 20 minutes apart, but that 20 minutes was time I
spent
> wandering around the roof of Casa Mila watching the light and the shadows.
> The black and white photo, once I found the viewpoint, only took one frame
> and one minute to shoot (to be fair, it took an hour of printing to
determine
> where the (phantom) midtones should be).
>
> I often find it useful to take a quick color snap if only for reference in
> printing the b/w later.
>
> Dante
>
>