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[OM] The Gotcha of the Great

Subject: [OM] The Gotcha of the Great
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:16:19 -0500
I've been in hog-heaven shooting Fujichromes again, but I discovered an old
curse that has reared its ugly head again.

The Gotcha of the Great!

A good 'chrome, such as Velvia or Kodachrome is expensive to shoot.  The
per-shot cost is very high, and when combined with larger-formats, is
difficult to justify.  This was true before, and it's even more true today
in the world overrun by digital.

This is only one side of the equation, though.  The reason to shoot Velvia
or other high-quality 'chrome is for the quality of the images it results
in.  You know, for example, how well Velvia enhances colors during the
"golden hours"--it takes what is beautiful and extends it into another
dimension.

But this comes at a price--not just monetory, but psychological.  You end up
not shooting pictures because you are constantly asking yourself: "Is this
Velvia-worthy?"  Because of this questioning, you end up NOT taking the
picture because you know in your heart that the picture just isn't good
enough to commit to a film of this quality. As a result, you miss many
photographic opportunities through this "pre-edit" process.

A massive advantage of digital over great film is that you are more likely
to take pictures of things that you'd never commit a frame of expensive film
to. Granted, nearly all of these pictures are "tossers", but once in a while
one of these "also-ran" photographs is a winner.

The key to survival in the film world is to be willing to waste photographs
on experimental or secondary pictures. If you can't get beyond the "Gotcha
of the Great", then it may pay to have a second camera loaded with low-cost
film or even a digital camera.  Save the expensive film for the "I'm making
a statement with this photograph". This way, by using dual cameras you won't
miss out on the low hanging fruit while you reach for the highest apple.

AG
-- 
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