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

["Dante A. Stella" <dante@umich.edu>]

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