Digital Cameras are great, but they do put us in a bit of a comfort zone – in that we tend to overshoot. After all, pixels are free. I know I’ve been guilty of it on many occasions. But now every time I shoot – I make a conscious effort not to. I recently read the book “Photo Therapy Motivation and Wisdom: Discovering the Power of Pictures” by Rick Sammon. One of his tips was to make the “one picture promise”, which is to take each picture like you only have one shot left on your memory card. Slow down, take your time, and compose the scene.
“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”
– Don McCullin
This made me think of when I used to shoot with my Polaroid Sun 600. Because the pictures weren’t “unlimited”, you didn’t waste any shots. There was no memory card. Instead, the camera used a cartridge with 12 pictures that were available instantly. Well, you had to wait a few minutes for the picture to develop. But, it was still more instant than days. In addition to having a small amount of pictures to take, the cartridges were a little pricey. So, It really made you very selective of what you were shooting.
photo credit: ID 4132467 © | Gnet2000 | Dreamstime.com
