Here's a lesson in learning to slow down when using a digital camera.
Every day I try to make images that are meaningful to me. Recently, I have challenged myself to learn not to overshoot using the digital camera. Overshooting is one of the liabilities that comes with digital technology. In photography there is no need to have to stop shooting in order to change rolls of film every 24 or 36 frames. With a large enough storage capacity, the digital camera makes it easy to just keep shooting and shooting.
It seems that a lot of photographers find larger memory cards to be pretty effective.
However, in teaching photojournalism in a digital age, it's hard to get students to slow down and not shoot everything they see simply because they can. Often I see the frustration on students' faces when they come back without producing the best pictures possible. There seems to be this rationale about making images with digital photography that gives people the impression that the more pictures they make, the more likely it is that they'll come away with a great picture. I think they call this "gaming" and it is a completely false assumption.
Working with a small capacity memory card challenges the photographer to make every frame count.
With the small card approach to making pictures it is important to think more clearly in terms of process over product.
In other words, digital photography can provide a false sense of security because it has become that much easier to make pictures.
On a 256mb card you can only get about 30 images when shooting in the RAW format.
Actually, the process requires the same discipline we used to have with film. With a small card capacity it is important to force ourselves to make every frame count.
As an exercise, working with a smaller card forces us to focus on the moment and not get into the trigger-happy habit of machine-gunning everything we see. There are lots of great things about working with digital technology, but I can honestly say, that it does make me a little uneasy at times. I tend to get lazy with the technology, because it's so easy to fall into bad routines.
The trick to this exercise is not to allow ourselves go through the pictures on-camera immediately after capture. With a small card there is a temptation to start deleting pictures in order to make room for others.
Once the card is full, put the camera down and think about the pictures. How many of the images have a clear message? How many are well exposed and in focus? How carefully are the pictures composed? How much redundancy is there between frames?
This exercise makes us slow down and see more. It allows us to think more about trying to tell stories with visual impact rather than just make pictures for the sake of making pictures.