Acer, this question of 0f keepers is an interesting one. It seems to me
to beg the question of how and why one shoots. Personally, I used to figure
1/2 in 36--i.e. images I'd want to print properly and display--was great;
however, I've recently begun to move away from thinking in terms of a good
image (or picture) towards focusing on serial projects and/or multiple
images of the same event. I'm starting to experiment with multiple
frames--printing two, sometimes three, frames in a row together.
Looking through Mike Johnston's article (Photo Techniques, Sept/Oct '99) of
the differences between 35mm and larger format (talked about a few weeks ago
on this list), I surprised myself by agreeing w/ many of his points about
35mm vs. Large Format. Especially his argument that 35mm shooting offers an
entirely different set of aesthetic possibilities: 35mm lends itself to a
style of shooting based more on reportage, compositional disruptions,
decisive moments and on less print craft. I'm particularly intrigued by his
sense the power of 35mm photography resides in the editing.
I know that many people shooting landscapes on modern superfine grained,
hyper saturated chromes and printing cibas might want to take issue with
this distinction--and it is true of course any of these kind of
generalisations are set to be disproven--however, for me the notion that
"35mm pictures work best in series or groups, less well as single frames"
(Johnston) has been useful in helping me to develop an approach to
photography that I think/hope is more my own (whatever that means).
Rather than being my best or most favourite camera, my Oly has become one
tool amongst others. Interestingly it was until I started to shoot 21/4x21/4
that I began to appreciate its serial potential. Working through 12 images,
often portraits against a static backdrop, helped me to think about 35 in
terms of a series of 36 frames rather than a collections of single images.
As I said elsewhere, I'm trying to discipline myself to run through rolls
rather than frames, never to put the camera away with images in it. So far
the experiment in shooting more freely has been paying off..
Consequently--returning to the initial question--I'm finding that while the
ratio between keeper rolls/shoots and film shot is increasing, I'm using a
higher percentage of images from these rolls.
Glen
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