First time I entered a Single In challenge and I must say it has been an enlightening experience. Lots of fun too to see what my fellows-in-the-same-boat have been doing, saying and showing.
I easily withstood the temptation to go for tractors
. Also as a member of my photoclub I hardly ever participate in themed shoots or assignments unless they are broad enough to encompass what I want to do myself. For me there's simply no point in doing something else. I have a very narrow field of interest and I don't want to waste energy by doing things I don't like or aren't good at. I know there are people who like my work and many others that are indifferent to it, and that's how it is.
The best thing was that the challenge forced me to go out almost each and every day. The old adage "go out and shoot!" is still valid and I have made some photos that I'm quite happy with and that I wouldn't have made otherwise. I have to add that most of the photos are shown in the Day threads only because I had to come up with something and that there are only a few that may be good enough to stand the test of time.
Which brings me to another point. Normally it takes me days, weeks or months before I decide that a photo is good enough to show to someone else. Now I had to decide within a day and I'm sure I didn't always make the right picks. Going by the number of likes and the comments, my outtakes were regularly received better than my Day picks, which goes to show that it's very difficult to judge if a photo is good all by yourself. I often ask my wife and as she's honest in a kind way, I'm used to receive surprising opinions
.
The choice of camera was an easy one: the Sony A7R2 that I always use. Not that it's the ideal camera but it does the job of delivering quality output confidently without too much of a hassle. That said, I never really bonded with the camera like I did with earlier ones (think Minolta SR-T303b and Nikon F3) and I can't get past the idea of trying a Leica M at some point.
I chose the Zeiss Loxia 21mm as the weapon of choice because I wasn't sure if I ignored its potential; by now I've come to know that 21mm is just not suitable for most of my photography but sometimes it comes in handy when space is tight. I must say though that I mostly didn't like the wild perspective that came with framing the majority of shots. It'll be interesting to see how much I'll use the 21mm in the near future, but I'm relieved to go back to the Zeiss Loxia 35mm or VoigtlƤnder FE 1.2/40.
The challenge wasn't as difficult as I imagined, mainly because I quickly discovered that I could make something passable at any point in time if I put in a little effort, a confidence boost really. This last day of the challenge coincided with reading Thorsten von Overgaard's "The Moment of Emotional Impact" (
free e-book by signing up to a newsletter), which proved to be an inspiring read and I hope I can sustain the drive to go out and shoot as much as I can.
These are my thoughts now but I'm pretty sure that in the next few weeks I'll start to really appreciate what this has brought me, as so often these things have to sink in, at least with me.
Thank you all for this experience!