Shooting too much?! Please help.

ericdan · Jun 6, 2019

It all started with a job I hated and an ugly divorce. Needed something else to do and think about.
I started shooting 30-40 mins every morning before I go to work for the past 6-7 years. Roughly 4-5 rolls a month just for the morning sessions. Then I shoot on weekend mornings too. Also in the same area. It’s always the same few streets between my house and the train station. I’m surprised myself I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. It just became a habit. A thing I do like brushing teeth. The job and relationship problems are gone but I still shoot.

What if this is all BS shots in the end? It’s always the same stuff basically. I think I have 1100 rolls shot with 70% being these little streets. I’ll never have time to print all this stuff. I really don’t know what to do.

Bill Burk · Jun 6, 2019

You should just keep at it. One day it will be amazing.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 6, 2019

I agree with Bill - I think it is valuable in many ways. As a self-proclaimed historian/archivist, photos like that are valuable to me. I wish someone had done something like that in the places I lived. But it's not all just recording history or the slow changes of things over time - there is beauty to be captured even in the small area you photograph. There's a small cluster of trees where I live that I'm sure I've photographed hundreds of times.

Ste_S · Jun 6, 2019

You're over thinking it. Does it make you happy doing it ? If so, carry on.

I do similar on my lunch break, shooting in a mile radius from my office. Takes my mind of work and I've got at least one of my favourite photos out of it.

foveon_m · Jun 6, 2019

Anon Ymous · Jun 6, 2019

Ste_S said:
You're over thinking it. Does it make you happy doing it ? If so, carry on.

It's simple as that. FWIW, there's a lighthouse few km away from where I live. I've photographed it an awful lot of times, but keep going there. I just like doing so.

guangong · Jun 6, 2019

I have a dying cherry tree on my property. It’s been dying for over 30 years. Have been shooting it during a wide variety of weather conditions and time of day, in bloom and bare, with everything from Minox to 4x5.

As for help, my advice would be to sometimes take eyes away from viewfinder and look for somebody new.

warden · Jun 6, 2019

ericdan said:
It all started with a job I hated and an ugly divorce. Needed something else to do and think about.
I started shooting 30-40 mins every morning before I go to work for the past 6-7 years. Roughly 4-5 rolls a month just for the morning sessions. Then I shoot on weekend mornings too. Also in the same area. It’s always the same few streets between my house and the train station. I’m surprised myself I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. It just became a habit. A thing I do like brushing teeth. The job and relationship problems are gone but I still shoot.

What if this is all BS shots in the end? It’s always the same stuff basically. I think I have 1100 rolls shot with 70% being these little streets. I’ll never have time to print all this stuff. I really don’t know what to do.

You're engaged in a healthy occupation that Janna Malamud Smith would refer to as an "absorbing errand". Her book, An Absorbing Errand - How Artists and Craftsmen Make their way to Mastery might be of interest to those here.

Yeah, keep shooting.

warden · Jun 6, 2019

guangong said:
I have a dying cherry tree on my property. It’s been dying for over 30 years. Have been shooting it during a wide variety of weather conditions and time of day, in bloom and bare, with everything from Minox to 4x5.

As for help, my advice would be to sometimes take eyes away from viewfinder and look for somebody new.

Have you read last year's The Overstory by Richard Powers? He was just awarded the Pulitzer for it, and a decades long multi generation photographic project of a tree is a through line in the book.

Pentode · Jun 6, 2019

When I bought my first 'real' camera I took it to Coney Island to shoot my first roll. I have been going back for over 25 years. I don't know how many rolls of film I have shot at Coney Island. A lot.
If it's a sickness I'm not looking for a cure!

removed account4 · Jun 6, 2019

ericdan said:
What if this is all BS shots in the end? It’s always the same stuff basically. I think I have 1100 rolls shot with 70% being these little streets. I’ll never have time to print all this stuff. I really don’t know what to do.

i'd keep doing it, as much as you can. none of it is really the same, seconds and fractions of seconds never really repeat themselves.

ic-racer · Jun 6, 2019

Many photographers have boxes and boxes of prints and massive collections of negatives. Yet most photographers will be defined by less then 50 images. Think of Shore, and don't you just want to see the images from "Uncommon Places" which are all fit in a single box.

Maybe in your thousand of rolls of film you will be lucky to have 5 of your life's works' prints.

Luckless · Jun 6, 2019

I have several dozen rolls of film from the last few months worth of lunch break walks sitting in a tin waiting to be developed.

There might be one or two images in that batch which will get printed in the end.

I'm not really worried about the collection of negatives from those sessions, as it is far more about the walk and practicing with my cameras than it is about getting images. My primary goal is to relax and to get better at quickly focusing and finding my framing with the old cameras I have, and if I get a useful photo to print out of the entire then then that is merely a bonus.

MattKing · Jun 6, 2019

I'm guessing that what bothers you isn't the shooting, but actually the feeling that there is a backlog of printing hanging over you.
If so, you have lots of company.
If you want to re-invigorate your joy in shooting the same area, see if you can increase at least slightly the amount you at least contact print.
I find that the feedback loop of shooting, then printing, then shooting with the printing in mind greatly increases the enjoyment.

MartinCrabtree · Jun 6, 2019

I'd say keep it up. And you've given me an idea. Thanks.

Paul Howell · Jun 6, 2019

Now that I have retired I shoot 5 to 6 times a week, I shoot for the most part at either the Phoenix Zoo or Botanical Garden, both film and digital, I always surprise myself at how many different ways I can see the same plant, animal, different times of year, different times of the day. I print 2 or 3 negatives from a roll if I'm lucky, last week finished a roll, nothing I wanted to print. But I keep looking. So keep looking, make it fresh. Steve McCurry. did a project, just one shot a day for 30 days, he walked the forest near his home, I've thought about a similar project.

mshchem · Jun 6, 2019

ericdan said:
It all started with a job I hated and an ugly divorce. Needed something else to do and think about.
I started shooting 30-40 mins every morning before I go to work for the past 6-7 years. Roughly 4-5 rolls a month just for the morning sessions. Then I shoot on weekend mornings too. Also in the same area. It’s always the same few streets between my house and the train station. I’m surprised myself I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. It just became a habit. A thing I do like brushing teeth. The job and relationship problems are gone but I still shoot.

What if this is all BS shots in the end? It’s always the same stuff basically. I think I have 1100 rolls shot with 70% being these little streets. I’ll never have time to print all this stuff. I really don’t know what to do.

Sounds like very interesting streets. Enjoy. Get a contact printer.

ericdan · Jun 7, 2019

I’m kind of keeping up with the contact prints. When I develop a roll it gets contact printed too.

chip j · Jun 7, 2019

I've been shooting the same street for 30 yrs. Always change lenses though. Not too boring. I scan the film & then make computer prints to see what I got (I mostly shoot B&W).

Patrick Robert James · Jun 7, 2019

Pretty much every photographer that ever lived took so much crap they'd be embarrassed for people to see some of it. Just the way it is.

If you aren't feeling it, just put the camera away for a few days.

If you are walking the same way every day and keep taking the same pictures I have an exercise for you. Take a timer with you and every 30 seconds or whatever when the beep goes off you have to take a picture immediately. It will force you to find things even if it is just a crack in the sidewalk. You'll still take a lot of crap, but maybe it will shake you up.

I eschewed contact prints years ago for scanning and cataloging negs in Lightroom. Best thing I ever did. On the other hand I have over 1000 images in a folder waiting to be printed in the darkroom so that is a bit frustrating.

ericdan · Jun 9, 2019

I actually don’t have a problem with not shooting enough. It’s more like I’m shootings too much.
I was scanning and hated dealing with the data management. I agree it’s easier to find pictures with tags etc. but I just wanted to get away from the computer and smartphone. I like holding contact prints and marking them with a wax pen. I know it’s weird but I like that process. I sold all my scanners and now use google PhotoScan to scan my prints if I really need a digital copy for some reason.

Eric Rose · Jun 9, 2019

Well it worked for Winogrand.

mooseontheloose · Jun 10, 2019

I think this is a great exercise. I wish I did in my neighbourhood. So much has changed in the past five years that I’ve lived there I regret not taking more photos when I had the chance. One place in particular that I love is a simple yakitori shop that had red lanterns strung along the front. It’s still there but for some reason they got rid of the lanterns. It makes me sad every time I walk by it, not only with regret for my photographic miss, but just because it was such an icon in my neighbourhood. I guess the take away from this is I should take a page from your book and start shooting locally more. But then again, I have such a huge backlog of images from my travels and elsewhere, I really don’t want to add too much to the pile.

guangong · Jun 10, 2019

The town I have lived in for 50 years gradually evolved from a working man’s city of longshoreman, iron workers, ... the whole spectrum of life including small business owners, real hardware stores, butcher shops, professors, etc. The people who lived on nearby streets were neighbors. Gradually became gentrified. No more butcher shops, but rather those cutesy shops run by trust fund kids that all seem to look alike. The once locally owned bars are nor owned by corporations who promote bar crawls for millennials. While I took some pictures of the local scene, I regret not taking more. A brownstone that housed one family does not have the same look as one that is now converted to 10 condos. One a scene is gone...it’s gone! In hindsight, I should have taken more pictures of the transition.

DonJ · Jun 10, 2019

ericdan said:
It all started with a job I hated and an ugly divorce. Needed something else to do and think about.
I started shooting 30-40 mins every morning before I go to work for the past 6-7 years. Roughly 4-5 rolls a month just for the morning sessions. Then I shoot on weekend mornings too. Also in the same area. It’s always the same few streets between my house and the train station. I’m surprised myself I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. It just became a habit. A thing I do like brushing teeth. The job and relationship problems are gone but I still shoot.

What if this is all BS shots in the end? It’s always the same stuff basically. I think I have 1100 rolls shot with 70% being these little streets. I’ll never have time to print all this stuff. I really don’t know what to do.

If it's the process that you like, but you're being stressed by what to do with the photos, just rewind and re-use the same roll of film. You'll get the mental health benefits of relaxing and experiencing your environment, without the worries of what do do with the output. Or just shoot without loading the camera.

Shooting too much?! Please help.

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