Who says digital is the way of the future?

I don't like doing this, but I'm breaking the pattern to make a little announcement...somewhat pertaining to this project, definitely pertaining to me as a photographer.

So, I've decided to create a little challenge for myself and for the next 6 months, I am putting down my digital camera and shooting film only. Last week, I went to an awesome lecture with a panel of PDN's 30 in 2010 photographers and someone mentioned that Art Center's photo students can only take 4x5 film photos (as opposed to digital photos) their first two years there to make them focus and to be more selective as they are taking each photo. I don't know if that is still the case, but that certainly got me thinking...

I'm at a place where I love the idea of this project, I love the people I'm meeting and the conversations I'm having, but I want to focus more on the photos themselves. After all, that's one of the biggest reasons I began this project is to work on my photography. I think shooting only film will be really good in pushing me harder in this direction. No more taking lots of haphazard photos to find one good shot...I'm gonna channel lots more thought into each time I click that button to take a photo.

So what does that mean in terms of this project? I'm definitely going to continue walking the talk, but the photos will be updated more slowly because I'll need to finish the roll of film and then develop it before I can put it up. But the really scary thing for me is that I can't be certain that I've got a photo that works before I finish talking to each person. There will be a chance that I won't get a photo because I screwed up the shot or something happens to the film and I wouldn't know that until I get the film back, when it's too late to track down the person and retake their portrait. Then that portrait would be forever lost...and I think that would break my heart. It happened once already. I did the interview, busted out my digital camera only to realize that I didn't have a memory card in it. Luckily, I had a disposable camera in my purse. But unluckily, I purchased that disposable camera for 99 cents from the thrift store and basically, her photo came out as a giant black blob.  These things happen though, right? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these fiascos will be kept to a minimum.

Wish me luck! I'll see you in October, digital camera!