Creative Spark Plug: 12 Exposures
I’m old enough to remember a time before digital took over the world—when you didn’t carry around a device that could do it all—take photos, record video, play music, make phone calls, access the internet, play videos, and so much more. I remember payphones, video recorders, cassette players, and film cameras. Though there has been progress with the digital revolution, it can be good to go back and recreate some of those earlier technologies and processes, and we are seeing a rise in folks buying music on vinyl, snapping photos with film cameras, and using other analog technologies. I’m not advocating that folks invest in turntables and SLR cameras, but we can use the ideas and processes from earlier times to spark our creativity now.
If you are old enough to remember film cameras, you most likely remember that you were limited by just how much physical film could fit inside the camera. Most often, you were limited to 12, 24, or 36 exposures, especially when using 35mm cameras. The camera just couldn’t hold more than that. Also, with film cameras, you were never sure how the image would come out until the film was developed, and often the image was under or overexposed or not framed well. So you hoped that at least a few of your pictures from a single roll actually came out. Because you had so few exposures and you had to pay to get it developed, you were very selective with what you photographed. You wanted to up your chances of having a bunch of good photos.
But now with cameras built into our phones, taking photos is different. We’re not selective at all. You can snap a seemingly unlimited number of images and instantly see how they come out. It’s not uncommon for us to have 1000s of photos on our phones, and I think the last time I checked, I had nearly 8000 photos on mine. Because cameras are so accessible and so simple now, it’s changed the way we take photos. It seems that most people don’t think a lot when they take a photo. They simply snap a photo, and since technology does so much, the photo seems ok. However, what if we went back and approached how we take photos like we did back in the days of film? We don’t have to pull out our old cameras or make a trip to the pawn shop. We can still use our cameras on our smart phones, but what if we thought a bit more and were more selective with how we took our photos.
So the idea of this spark plug is to limit yourself to just 12 exposures—12 photographs in total. No less and no more, and that means no deleting. If you delete a photo, it still counts as one of your 12. How can limiting yourself to taking just 12 photographs make you change your approach? As you go about doing this, you can consider focusing on a single object or scene, and the advice that I gave in Photo an Object could be a good place to start. You can also think a bit broader. What if you went for a walk and documented your walk in just 12 images? What if you documented your day with just 12 photos? What if you shot around your home or workplace? This could be something that takes you 20 minutes, an entire day, or a whole week. However long it takes, just be very selective and pay attention to how the image fills the space.
Like all of these Creative Spark Plugs, don’t just do it one time. Try it multiple times, and try several different approaches. See how limiting yourself to taking just 12 photos can help you explore your creativity and use your camera differently.
Thank you so much for reading. This is a free publication, and I try to offer something each week. If you find what I share valuable and would like to keep it going please buy my books, hire me to speak, take a workshop, or become a paid subscriber. Paid subscribers have access to a monthly virtual meet up where we meet as a creative community to create together, talk, and share. I’d love to have you as part of that community. Become a paid subscriber:
Happy Creating!
Eric
PS. My next virtual meet-up for paid subscribers will be Saturday, February 14th, from noon to 2pm Eastern. You’ll still have plenty of time for any Valentine’s plans. If you’d like to join in, become a paid subscriber, or register for individual meet-ups on my website.