Random Musing Ep. 1

I read an article recently in which the writer printed one image a day for a full year. Sort of a take on the 365, but this was more about editing/printing, and it was only so he’d have a personal copy of what he deemed was the “best” image of that day, having a physical record of his life, etc. I’ve always shied away from 365 projects because of the pressure they apply to the photographer, but in this particular case, I decided to give this editing/printing thing a try.

Like the writer of the article I’m using my Instax SP2 Printer, so it’s somewhat an analog experience, and the photos I’m printing can be either shot on film, digital, or iPhone.

In starting this project, I’ve learned a couple of things about myself, and my vision. For one, I’ve found that I’m looking for images constantly, which I kind of was prior to this, but now I’m actually shooting them, not just wishing I had my Leica or other camera on me. Since I’m a majority film shooter, I rarely if ever used my phone to take photos prior to starting this experiment. Instead my phone was reserved more for telling my wife, hey look what I saw, or capturing something for my own memory, a beer I liked, a shirt I wanted, etc. Now, I’m using my phone for a lot more, and I’m seeing a lot more as well.

I also am getting better at self editing. Many of us take quite a few images in a day, but what if you tasked yourself with sorting through those images at the end of every day, with the purpose of selecting the “best one”. And “best one” is really a relative term here. Remember your entire instagram audience won’t necessarily see these unless you want them to. Which is something I’m considering doing next year, after I get better shooting with my phone and getting that vision to print on the Instax Mini as well.

I’ve also learned a lot about shooting and editing on my phone. I’m still learning how to get the best results out of my iPhone and SP2, but they are getting better, and I’m learning to adjust what I’m seeing on the phone, and how it will translate to the Instax Mini.

Anyway. That’s really all I’ve been thinking. And for now at least, I’m enjoying this process, and not stressing so much about not capturing moments/images that I see on my digital or film camera. This process of letting go of some of the control I exude on my images is quite liberating. Perhaps it might be for you as well.

Thanks for reading.