1 Street, 1 Film, 1 Day - tyneholm
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1 Street, 1 Film, 1 Day

Posted on 3 May 2021
in Street

ASSIGNMENT S18

You have one day, access to only one street and a single 24-exposure roll of film. What can you do with it?

Sometimes our best creative work is done when we’re under pressure and deadlines or restrictions can force us into thinking differently. It’s also true that digital technology makes us lazy – it’s too easy to shoot lots of random stuff, deleting later if the shots don’t work out. This means that we often don’t think critically or deeply enough about what we’re doing, especially as there are no financial consequences to shooting. There are, however, creative consequences and it’s all too easy to end up with hundreds of average-to-poor pictures from a day’s shoot.

This assignment is designed to really make you think about every single frame you take so you build some “creative capital” into your shooting. If you can carry some of this philosophy through to the rest of your photography, you will have achieved something really worthwhile.

You can undertake this assignment with a 35mm film camera and a 24-exposure roll of film (or two rolls of 120 film if you’re shooting medium format), or with a digital setup. However, if you use the latter, you will need to exercise real discipline and self-control to stay within your 24 exposure limit: deleting is cheating!

Then, choose a street – ideally a lively one with lots of going on and with plenty of variation in backgrounds and subject matter – and work it until your roll of film is finished. Remember that there’s a financial consequence (either real or notional) every time you make an exposure, so really think about the pictures you’re taking.

View the images

Technique

  • Go easy on the shutter, there’s little margin for error so pre-visualise every shot.
  • Take great care with your exposure and focus. With digital photography you can easily develop bad habits, knowing you can “put it right later”.

Field Notes

  • If you’re spending up to a day in the same street people will notice you. Don’t hide though, be proud of what you’re doing and chat to people about your assignment – plenty of them will find it interesting.
  • Don’t waste film – get everything lined-up, correctly exposed, and perfectly focused before you fire the shutter.