Some photographic musings, from someone who learned in the days of film.
Being able to change your ISO whenever you want and having what is essentially a roll of film that can hold over a thousand exposures is cool and all, but I think I'm going to challenge myself with some limitations every now and then.
When I was taking entry-level photography classes (never went higher), we used black and white film, usually the 200 ISO. You were limited to the ISO of the roll of film, which held a limited number of shots... the largest being like 32 or 36. So you went out with a loaded camera and a spare roll or two, and that was it.
Then you had to develop the film, lay it out on top of the photo paper, under glass to hold it flat, and make a contact sheet (giving you a positive print of the negative exposures) by exposing and developing it. Then you look through a magnifier at the tiny photos and choose which ones you wanted to make larger prints of, etc., load them into the projector and expose and develop another one, adjust your exposure length and dodge and burn as needed and develop another one...
I like seeing the positive image, immediately after taking the exposure. Digital did a lot right. But learning the exposure triangle by pinning one corner down and only working with the other two, like we were forced to do with film, felt right somehow. Like the step that you take before moving to more advanced theory. Now that I have digital, I adapted with ease. I feel like I would have struggled to learn the basics with DLSRs cameras.
And limiting yourself in some areas makes you stretch in others. So I'm going to impose artificial limits (temporarily, eventually) and try the Almost Film Photography Challenge (which I made up, but other people may have also made up, I haven't checked). I'll go out with a fixed ISO and a limited number of shots that I allow myself to take, and see what it does to my photography. Could be a good summertime thing, to get me to go out more—weekly wheelchair outings on the bike path, or something.
Other possible limitations/challenges to myself include: Trying the back focus button for the first time, and committing to it for an entire month before deciding if I like it or not. Doing manual focusing for a week. Shooting with my least favorite lenses for a week. Having a bunch of notecards, pulling one at random each day, and taking some photos based on what's written on the card (things like: from above, from below, fresh, age, liquid, negative space, etc.).
Anyway. Here's your reminder to impose temporary artificial limits on yourself, so you can expand your capabilities over the long term.
