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

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

Julian -

I was there in late November last year (and as a result of being gone so long
got so far behind at the office that I only managed to bang out the last of the
prints this week).  If the Gaudi stuff is of any interest, I will scan more of
it.  I have done about 16 prints of his buildings.  Or I could continue with
the Spain-and- Portugal-in-a-turbo-diesel station wagon series...

Cheers
Dante

Julian Thomas wrote:

> 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
> >
> >