Take The 24-Shot Photography Challenge

The grand prize is becoming more disciplined with your shooting.

A long, long time ago, us photographers recorded light on thin strips of film that had to be run through chemicals to make pictures. What’s more is that we were often limited to 24 photos — because film costs money.

That’s right, kids, we bought rolls of film that usually had 12, 24, or 36 written on the box. That’s how many photos you could take before needing to insert another roll. Think about that for a second compared to how many photos you can take now digitally — thousands at a time, if you have a big enough memory card.

So, as a result of our limited image capacity, we were (usually) more selective with what we photographed. We didn’t take 54 shots of the same subject.

My goal back in the day was to have one solid image on each roll of 24 frames.

Nowadays, I can shoot 200 pictures throughout a day and really only like one or two — so digital has actually watered down my photography in a way. (Don’t get me wrong, digital has been a blessing for shooting events.)

I still have my trusty old Pentax K2 film camera, with an automatic light meter! (I just noticed the battery compartment that powers the meter is missing, so I don’t think I’ll be using it again anytime soon.)

I took some decent shots back in the day with this camera that I bought for an art school class. I even learned how to develop black and white film in a darkroom, and let me tell you kids — it takes a lot more effort than downloading digital pics to your laptop.

Anyways, I got to thinking about how film photography requires more discipline. Also, the feeling of getting a good result from film was more special somehow. Perhaps this is why some photographers are heading back to film cameras — there’s a real sense of satisfaction when you capture something good.

There was also the element of surprise. You had to bring your exposed roll(s) of film to a lab, and wait days for the prints and negatives — unless you paid the extra charge for 1-hour photo. (As someone who worked in a film lab for years, I can tell you it often took more than an hour.)

When you sorted through your print order, you were seeing the images for the first time. It was a real treat when a picture turned out the way you imagined — or better.

The Challenge

I was thinking it would be fun to limit my next outing to only 24 images. Here’s the thing — you don’t need to have a film camera to challenge yourself in the same way. You can simply limit yourself to 24 digital photos.

One way is by using a low-capacity memory card (like a 512 MB, which will hold roughly 24 pictures at 20 MB each. My Canon 6D creates RAW files around that size.)

But there’s more to this challenge. In the old film days, you couldn’t see the image you just took magically appear on the camera screen (because there wasn’t one.) You shouldn’t be able to either for this challenge.

To simulate a film camera, you can do one of two things with your digital camera: you can simply shut off the screen (it will be in your settings somewhere.) Another way to ensure you don’t “chimp” your photos on the go is by putting tape over the screen. (Be sure to use tape that isn’t permanent, and is easy to remove.)

Since I’m just one person, I don’t have the resources to organize an actual challenge with prizes and such. This is just for fun. But maybe a photographer-friendly publication like Full Frame would be interested in broadcasting it, and maybe sweetening the pot with some extra exposure (pun intended)?

Either way, I’d be interested in seeing some of your 24-shot film challenge results — with a film or digital camera. Drop your links in the comments!