Interesting Photography Project

Image by Dan Kehlenbach
One of Dan's 36 images from his self-assigned project. (click to enlarge)
Nikon F65, Nikon 20-80mm zoom lens on Kodak Portra 400 film.

The other day I had lunch with a friend, Dan Kehlenbach, who I met through this blog.  When looking at Dan's work on his website, which can be found here, it is easy to see he is an excellent photographer with much talent.  He and I were talking about a variety of photographic topics, one of which was photography projects.  He recently completed one that I found fascinating and challenging and I wanted to pass the information onto those of you who may feel uninspired as a way to get your creative juices flowing once again.  A project like this dovetails into those previous discussions I've had about being in the photographic doldrums.

Dan told me, in order to personally challenge himself and break his routine of photographing the same things in the same way much of the time, he decided to bring out an old film camera of his, load it with a roll of 36 exposure film, then only make one exposure a day for 36 days.

Dan's project reminds me of the challenge famed National Geographic nature and wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg set for himself in the late 1990s.  Brandenburg set a goal for himself to make only one photograph a day (film, of course) from the autumnal equinox to winter solstice.  His work was published in the November, 1997 issue of National Geographic magazine.  Brandenburg also published a book of this work called, "Chasing the Light."  I found his work on that project quite remarkable.  Seriously, all of his work is quite remarkable!

I've always believed that restricting oneself in this manner enhances creativity.  Whether one exposure a day, using only one prime lens with one focal length or setting one's camera for only black and white JPEGs in a square format, I think restriction forces us to fit our vision into a specific box which makes us grow.   I am of the school that believes that too many choices degrade the experience as it introduces self-doubt into one's decision-making process.  With so many choices, one then wonders if one made the best choice.  Lingering doubt.  When you remove those choices, one has to make do with what one has.

Image by Dan Kehlenbach
Dan's camera, lens and film he used for this project.

I find this particular project an interesting proposition.  For example, you leave the house in the morning with your camera and almost immediately see something interesting, do you make the shot?  Do you pass and wait for something that may be more interesting later?  What if you don't see a better potential image? Do you then plan to come back if you can't find anything better that day?  Then you risk the photo, as you envisioned it, is now gone because the light has changed or the subject has moved or is no longer there. What to do?  Decisions, decisions.  A little photographic stress, in my book, is a good thing to help make us better photographers.

Another consideration is the fact that, with film, you don't have any feedback to ascertain if you did or did not set your camera and lens for a proper exposure.  How about the focus and depth of field?  You have only once chance to get it right.  You may press the shutter for any one day and find out at the end of the 36 day period that you don't have good exposures for several days, resulting in no images.  Or your depth of field is not what you intended and the image just doesn't work.  Or the focus is just a tiny bit off?  In any case, major fail.  These issues forces one to slow down and carefully think through the composition, exposure, focus, depth of field and lighting to ensure, especially in difficult lighting situations, that your camera and lens are set properly.  Also, remember, film does not have the latitude of a digital file so, again, exposure can be much more critical with film than with digital.  There is no instant feedback.  You have to use your brain to ensure you are successful.

The point of all of this is to stretch and challenge yourself to create in an entirely novel manner.  This requires one to learn how to think lighting, composition, probability, set standards for what types of images are worth capturing, etc.  Try it, if you think you need a project like this to regain your inspiration.  I like it!

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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