Street shooting and film wastage.

Frankly, the whole issue of "wasting money" by shooting a lot of film is ridiculous to me. So what if it costs $10-$15 for film and processing. How much is a good image worth to you? Would you not pay $10 for just that one right picture? Is a good image worth less than $25, $50, $100? I don't think you can look at the "cost" of shooting film without factoring in the rewards. So, yes, film is the cheapest part of the equation.
 
John Rountree said:
Frankly, the whole issue of "wasting money" by shooting a lot of film is ridiculous to me. So what if it costs $10-$15 for film and processing. How much is a good image worth to you? Would you not pay $10 for just that one right picture? Is a good image worth less than $25, $50, $100? I don't think you can look at the "cost" of shooting film without factoring in the rewards. So, yes, film is the cheapest part of the equation.
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Again, yes - it might be for you!, but there are others less fortunate than yourself - e.g. less disposable income, who may have to think about getting that "one right picture" for as little cost as possible, nowadays - like it or not that usually means resorting to digital!.
Dave.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
Film maybe 'cheap' to people with oodles of disposable income! - but at around £4 or £5 per roll, plus proccess ( self or shop ) with one real 'keeper' per roll, I would not consider it cheap, or be "very happy", but you may be a lot more easilly satisfied ( or have a lot more money! ) than me!;)
Dave.
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Maybe you spend it differently. Compared to amounts people throw out the window for cars and gas, iphones, digital cameras, flatscreen TVs or Starbucks coffee, film certainly is affordable.
 
Prosaic™ said:
Maybe you spend it differently. Compared to amounts people throw out the window for cars and gas, iphones, digital cameras, flatscreen TVs or Starbucks coffee, film certainly is affordable.
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Point taken!.....but not me - as a pensioner my money is 'thrown out the window' for food, clothing, light and heating, and yes....a couple of decent holidays a year!:)
Dave.
P.S. if you saw what Starbucks charge for a mug of mud over here - you too would probably pass by!:confused:
 
Photography is like making cheese. It takes a hell of a lot of milk to make a small amount of cheese just like it takes a hell of a lot of photos to get a good one. - Robert Gillis ;)

Dave, I'm a student, I doubt my finances are a lot healthier than yours, yet i shoot a lot, i usually finish a roll within 10 days. Same thing with my digital, 20 to 30 pics an outing at least, the more I shoot the better chance I have that I will end up with a keeper, usually more than one in that case
 
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Keith said:
Does any one remember a 1995 movie by the name of 'Smoke?' One of the main characters Auggie, played perfectly by Harvey Keitel, had a fascinating daily ritual!
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Keith...I saw that movie many years ago and have explained to people what "Auggie" did every day as his ritual...
I saw what he did as brilliant...now if he only shot one roll like this not much would have come of it...but shooting as long as he did...again I call it brilliant...


If one learns anything when shoot then nothing has been wasted...
 
already, I spent two years shooting with film cameras (after au ****ty digital compact :D) and made only 5000 shots :D

concerning the first post, it is imho strange to do so, why not wainting at the corner of the street shooting people, but 5 rolls at the same spot :(
 
Lauffray said:
, the more I shoot the better chance I have that I will end up with a keeper, usually more than one in that case
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A couple of questions that interest me:
1. Do you have categories of keepers? For example, some that go to a kind of "cold storage" --near duplicates, great shots but overloads from a particular event or scene, etc., and another category of shots that you look at, print, share, and return to?
2. Do you keep up with your editing, or do you have film and files you need to attend to?
 
At my house we call it practicing... after 27 years of serious B&W shooting I still need all the practice I can get ....... my motto "one shot leads to the next"
 
Oscar Levant said:
The whole problem is now moot with digital cameras.
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Not if you're the one who winds up editing the "take." The early frisson of "endless shooting" with digital cameras has lost some appeal after people have spent countless hours picking through several multi-gig cards' worth of images.

I don't do much "gratuitous" shooting in either medium; then, too, if I see something of interest, I photograph it without hesitation. Most of what I've been shooting lately is C41 film (color and chromogenic b/w); processing is local and very cheap, since I only have the film run through the processor and handed back to me uncut, and sans prints. And, once I'm back to processing my own conventional b/w, things get cheaper still. So, to a degree, and for me at least, film is cheap, but a good image is priceless, and the process of getting to that image is rather interesting in itself.

Frugal or profligate, try not to let second-guessing get in the way of getting a good photograph.


- Barrett
 
If standing on a street corner for a couple of hours & shooting 5 rolls of film is your thing then I don't see it as a waste. I enjoy street shooting & even though I may not be completely pleased with the results at times I don't see them as waste. I do my own developing with b&w so I'm constantly learning dev. techniques. Film is also a consumable so I feel that I'm doing my small part in putting food on some family's table. So with that attitude I feel that shooting film is never a waste.
 
I carried a camera with me all day yesterday right through the evening and never exposed a frame. Today a shot two frames. Over the weekend I'm meeting up with another forum member one morning and I'm sure to expose at leasst a few frames of the two of us together. Gotta love that 15mm Heliar! Maybe shoot some other stuff as well.

Come September I'm really looking forward to meeting up with a really cute 16 year old girl that last I photographed back in about 1968, along with her husband. I'm sure that I'll shoot a couple of rolls. That should make for some interesting photos, hopefully at some of the same locations.
 
Film is not expensive here in Indonesia. A Lucky 100 (a chinese B&W film) cost $1.2, TMax cost $4, while superia 200/400 cost $2 and $2.5. But even though film is not expensive, I do not shoot a lot of pictures when I walk around or at events. To me it's not because I think of it as wasting film but rather because of habit.

As a kid when I started photography, I didn't have a lot of money to spend to buy (and process) film. My family was not poor but we're not rich either. My allowance back then only allowed me to buy a maximum of 2 rolls of film a month. So I was always careful with what I shoot and I tend to do it carefully so that I didn't waste any film. It then became a habit.
I still do not shoot a lot whether with film or digital. With film I average about one roll a week. While when shooting digital, cause I usually photographing family or office events, I shoot about on average 100 pictures per event.

I often go out with loaded camera and 3 extra rolls of film in my bag with the intention of taking a lot of pictures and exposed all the films, but I haven't been able to do that. I usually only shoot less than one roll. Same with when I go out with a digital camera.
I do this out of habit.

Bob
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
Again, yes - it might be for you!, but there are others less fortunate than yourself - e.g. less disposable income, who may have to think about getting that "one right picture" for as little cost as possible, nowadays - like it or not that usually means resorting to digital!.
Dave.
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Yes, because digital (especially quality digital) is "free" :)

Film can range from somewhat expensive, to very very cheap. For example, in Shanghai ERA 100, which is quite good, is $1.25 a roll. D76, for 1L is about .20 cents. Fix is the same cost. I can reuse the D76 for quite some time, so in short, I can shoot 36 frames for about $1.50.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
My reply to an earlier thread here, set me thinking about how much film I (and you! ) must have wasted ove the years. The writer admitted to standing on a street corner for around two hours, and exposing five rolls of film, around 180 shots - for goodness sake!. Presumably they were all of total strangers, just walking around, now why, I wonder would anyone want that many pics of unknown people?, I like to look out for interesting characters and situations, and always carry a camera, I often return home having shot very little, and occasionally - nothing!, but am usually happy to have just been out-and-about. This type of photography must surely present a really strong case for digital, especially if like me, you are on a pension!.
I still like to shoot film occasionaly, and all my negatives are sleeved, and filed - although I think most of them will go to the skip, when I'm gone!. I am not asking any questions, or making big statements here - just a few morning musings!:)
Cheers, Dave.
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Dave,
Everybody does what they do. That's RBSinTo's Law.
I can't for the life of me, understand why my Landscape-shooting photobuds flock to Mono Lake, Death Valley, El Capitan, Antelope Canyon, the Palouse, Slot Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and so on and so on and so on, to shoot the same photos that have been shot a zillion times before. But they do. For Goodness' sake!
Or my bird-shooting photobuds, who run all over the place to shoot the same shots over and over of Great Blue Herons, Not-So Great Blue Herons, Gulls, Eagles, Falcons, Penguins, Puffins, and so on and so on and so on. But they do. For Goodness' sake!
It's because Everybody does what they do. So who are You or I to judge?
As for the film "wasted"? It's just part of the cost of photographing with film. I've been doing it for over thirty years, so it's just the way it is. Were it that every frame was a brilliant masterpiece. But that's even more unrealistic with the dynamics of Street Photgraphy where you see it and shoot it before it disappers forever, as opposed to the slow methodical approach to capture static or time-insensitive subjects. Besides. I don't spend money on liquor, cigarettes or other women, so my wife doesn't mind. And because I'm underwhelmed by all things Digital, I hope to keep doing this way for the forseeable future.
 
rbsinto said:
I can't for the life of me, understand why my Landscape-shooting photobuds flock to Mono Lake, Death Valley, El Capitan, Antelope Canyon, the Palouse, Slot Canyon, . . . Everybody does what they do. So who are You or I to judge?
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I certainly agree: No judgments; no how (especially regarding how other people spend their money)

However, I do look for threads in which photographers are willing to engage in describing why they do what they do. Otherwise, what's the point of my looking at another view of the G.Canyon or another anonymous sullen teenager talking on a cellphone while smoking a cigarette on a subway?

So now I want to see some photos you select to share; and I want to know why you took and selected those shots. If I don't see and understand, then the film is wasted (at least on me.)
 
As far as i know, not being a pro shooter, Robert Frank shot 28 000 frames and picked out 83 of them for his book "The Americans". Thats waste, atleast back then. Now anyone would fight for a single of those frames i guess.

I started with digital photo 4 years ago and then bought my first film camera, a Rolleiflex Automat X, about 1 1/2 year ago to learn how to shoot properly. At that time i was a student, and knowing that each frame of the 120 roll film costs me about $2 (film + developing here in Norway), i had to focus like hell.

Now i mostly shoot film and mostly medium format. I sold my Vespa to get a Hasselblad and my Nikon D200 gets a lot of rest. There is just something about film that makes me evaluate what i shoot in a different way. I mean, i have become a much better digital photographer after learning all the film basics, but if i go for shooting something i really belive will be good i always bring a film camera.

And as for wasting, i have wasted a lit of film, loads of frames i do not care about, but they are also my teachers. I will continue to shoot film as long as i can afford it (being unemployed now i do evaluate which camera i bring).

J
 
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As stated in my first post at the begining of this thread :- just a few early morning musings, and personal observations - no big statements, or leading questions. It now seems to have escalated to the point of me being judgemental, and/or telling people what to spend their money on! - and what to photograph!. For the record - these days I mostly shoot for my own fun, and ( hopefully! )-my families pleasure, and mainly digital now, but I am actually not too bothered weather others shoot film, digital or fifty rolls a day!, and certainly could'nt give a toss if they want to get up before dawn to shoot that same mountain, or walk up and down the streets!. So why start the thread? - you may ask, well like most here, I like to hear ( and often derive amusement! ) from others viewpoints, and am not Ebenezer Scrooge - trying to convert everyone to my way of thinking!;)
Dave
 
MartinL said:
I certainly agree: No judgments; no how (especially regarding how other people spend their money)

However, I do look for threads in which photographers are willing to engage in describing why they do what they do. Otherwise, what's the point of my looking at another view of the G.Canyon or another anonymous sullen teenager talking on a cellphone while smoking a cigarette on a subway?

So now I want to see some photos you select to share; and I want to know why you took and selected those shots. If I don't see and understand, then the film is wasted (at least on me.)
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'Kay.
I post very little here, so if you want to see a larger sample of my work you'll have to got to any or all of three other sites where I've posted a fair number of images. The three galleries contain many similar images, but are not necessarily all identical.
1) www.nikongear.com
click on "Gallery" and scroll through the pages until you find the one called RBSinTo. The thumbnail is of a women wearing a beige hat and holding a camera.
2) www.photochimps.com
click on "Gallery'
click on Search (at the right hand side of the page) and then in the box "search by user name, type in RBSinTo There will be explanations beside the thumbnails for why I shot what I did
3) www.nikonians.org
click on "Gallery"
then at the top left side of the page click on "personal albums index"
then in the box at the top right type in....you guessed it, "RBSinTo"

If there are any specific shots that you want information on, let me know and I'll be happy to discuss them with you.
 
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