Sitting at home waiting for the typhoon signal to drop has given me time to blog about the 36 Shot Challenge.
The 36 Shot Challenge was done with friends from Cathay Camera Club; that is using a small 2GB card in a modern DSLR ( for me a 2GB Card in the Canon 5D3 took 36 shots – the Nixon shooters around 37).
The idea was to try and emulate the days of film, i.e. carrying only one or two rolls of film for the day and thinking carefully before pressing the shutter and avoid spray and pray method. The only rule was limiting your self to the card, with individuals adding other challenges such as one ISO, no chimping etc as they saw fit. I have kept all my shots from the day in black & white to keep with film emulation theme.
I was surprised how hard it was, especially as we were shooting street photography – and I would not normally describe myself as spray and pray shooter (others might!). I did find the whole exercise quite refreshing and it has rekindled my thoughts about bringing my film cameras out of retirement for the occasional walk around – a couple of friends did the challenge with a film camera, mine is unfortunately in the UK.
We shot around the Canton Road Wet Market in Mong Kok and after an early dinner we continued down through Yau Ma Tai and Temple Street to Jordan. This is a favourite area of mine to shoot as it produces quite interesting subjects in the less glamorous side of Hong Kong.
I have to say I’m really looking forward to doing this again and maybe next I’ll go the whole way and tape up my preview screen – that’s if next time I haven’t tempted by a box of Ilford HP5 or some Tri-X. Below are more shots from the day; all in all, not a bad hit rate, 13 keepers out of 36 shots taken.
