dangit.. i'm like a catholic virgin on prom night !!

[naptime]

so, as some of you may know, I've been gearing up for the big day....

my daughter and i getting into photography.


bought us both film cameras, lenses, filters, tripods, cable releases, hot shoe flashes, hoods, cases, film, developing tank, chemicals, and books.....


so, today was the day (Friday.) I have always let her go to her moms on Christmas day, and we celebrate Christmas eve.

this year, we decided to open gifts Friday night, so that we could enjoy all day Saturday shooting. gonna go on a picture taking journey around town tomorrow.

but tonight..... omg... the pressure !!!!!


she knew she was getting a camera. because this idiot left the manual laying on the floor the other day! so, she has been pumped for a week (shes been asking for this for 6 months)

i have been pumped cuz i bought the cameras, shot a test roll to be sure they worked, and then wrapped them up. and I've been on the forums and YouTube daily, but haven't been able to put anything into practice.

so, about 6, we decide to open gifts. she cries at the camera. then again at the tripod. and again at the flash. and again at the developing kit. nice mission accomplished.

so we spend a little time and i show her how it all goes together. what does what, why, and how.


then the moment of truth. time to start shooting..........

OR NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!

it's now 3 am. she took TWO photos.. one of her violin, and one of our new kitten.

i have taken.......... ZERO !!!!!

that's right, I've been pumped for this moment for two months.. and it's been 9 hours and i still haven't taken a shot.


we are both so freaking nervous about the fact that it's film and every shot costs money, that the fear of failure is taking over. now we are afraid to take the shot unless we think everything is going to be perfect about it. even the two she took were on full auto with auto focus.... but she's scared her composition is going to be wrong.

i haven't taken a single shot because i have this burning desire for the first one to be something great. something i'll always remember.. and i have seen anything worthy of that first shot. i even almost took one of her, with her new camera, as i thought that would be a great memory for me... then stopped and bailed at the moment of truth, because i thought the background looked wrong, and i didn't know if the dof would be correct ...


uuuuggggghhhhhhh


performance anxiety. over a roll of film :lmao:


if only i could catch some gnats or ants in the midst of passion... but with my luck, they'd be looking the wrong way, and i bail on the shot anyway.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Imagine how many pictures you will miss by not shooting. If you and your daughter are reluctant to shoot because it's film then I suggest practicing more with digital.

 

[naptime]

Imagine how many pictures you will miss by not shooting.

i know !!!

i think it's just first day jitters.

tomorrow we should be good. maybe. lol

 

[WesternGuy]

As Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100 % of the shots you don't take". Now he was a hockey player and obviously referring to his game, but I think this is also quite applicable to photography. You spent all that money on matching camera sets, gear, etc., and you are worried about spending a few pennies on film - so why film in the first place, why not digital - puzzles me - each to his own I guess.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Kerbouchard]

Well, you have a tripod, you have lighting, and you have a cable release...

My recommendation, your first shot should be of you and your daughter together.

 

[Vtec44]

I hope your daughter doesn't read this thread. lol

 

[naptime]

You spent all that money on matching camera sets, gear, etc., and you are worried about spending a few pennies on film - so why film in the first place, why not digital - puzzles me - each to his own I guess.

i'm not worried about the cost of the film.

i'm worried about producing a shot that is worthless. we KNOW it's going to happen. a LOT.

just like her first solo. she practiced for months. she could play it with her eyes closed while walking backwards in the yard without stepping in a pile of dog crap.. but she was still nervous and crying before the solo because she just KNEW she was going to make a mistake and EVERYONE would laugh at her.

it's not about the film.

and trust me, i know i am going to shoot some terrible pictures. settings are going to be wrong, composition will be wrong, i'll forget basic things. i'm cool with that... but for some reason, tonight... i'm that bride that won't come out of the dressing room so her dad can walk her down the isle. instead she sits in there with the maid of honor crying for hours.



as to why film and not digital... I've discussed that at length in other threads. so much in fact, that i'm apparently going to have to make it my signature so people will stop bringing it up. it was our choice. made for many reasons. we will be going to digital, after we learn on film.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Terrible pictures are part of the learning process. It's a useless waste of time to be worried about that.

Apply what you've learned from your research and studies, be thoughtful with your subject and compositions, be critical of yourself and allow others more experienced to guide you along with their knowledge, and last but not least take some damn pictures!

As someone else said a good first image would be you and your daughter.

And I'll leave you with this: it's said that it takes 10,000 hours of doing something to become a master at it. You've got a lot of hours to go so pick up the camera and start chipping away!

 

[WesternGuy]

If you are worried about "taking a shot that is worthless", then why take up this hobby in the first place. I am not a pro, but when I was shooting film, I figured that if a third of the pictures on a roll (36 images) were any good then that was success. With digital, because it costs nothing to shoot an image, I do so much "experimenting" that probably about 20%, or less, of my images are what I would call keepers - that is keepers for me, your definition will probably be different.

I guess I will ask the obvious question (obvious to me at least), what do you think you can learn from film that you cannot learn from shooting digital - another puzzle to me, because I shot film for more years than I care to think about, and started shooting digital about 6 ± years ago and anything that I learned from shooting film is/was immediately applicable to digital - the only real difference, for me at least, is that I can now experiment to my hearts content and if I don't like the results when I get onto the computer, - it's gone faster than you can say "didn't work" . Digital gives me much more degrees of freedom in making "bad shots" than film ever did - I mean when I was shooting film, I would never even have thought of taking 4,5,6, or more images of the same thing from different angles, different exposures, etc... - you get the idea. With digital, I don't even think twice about shooting multiple images of the same thing from all different aspects - liberating as all get out...so I would say to you, bite the bullet and just go do it - settings are the same - rules of composition are the same - all the basics that you learned shooting film are the same, except now you have a light-sensitive sensor and not a light-sensitive piece of film. The nice thing about it is that if you shoot raw then you can do a lot more to the image in post-processing on the computer than you ever could in a darkroom with film - so go for it!!! :thumbup:

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[naptime]

ok. here we go again....

this thread was intended to be fun. i am not seriously afraid of taking a picture. i took up this hobby because my daughter and i are both interested in photography. she is following a path in the graphic arts, and will be taking photography classes. we do everything together. i am a single dad. my dad wasn't there for me, so i make it a point to be there for her .. blah blah blah... we play violin together. she screen prints with me. and i'll be learning photography with her. it gives us time together. especially now that she is 16 and my time with her will be diluted more and more with boyfriends and teen stuff.

i am not afriad of wasting film. i'm not afraid of having a bad shot.

i just have first night cold feet.

but really, more than anything else, i just haven't seen anything in the house that i felt would make a good first shot. i was serious when i said i wanted the first to be important. bad or good, i'll end up framing it. just like the first dollar we made in each of our businesses. just like her first homecoming dance pictures, etc... so, taking a photo of the chapstick lying on the desk in front of me... while i have focused on it and a can of coke zero for about 20 minutes, experimenting with dof and focusing the front or the rear object, i don't want THAT to be my first picture..

does that make sense?

it's not a literal fear.. it's more.. i just want to remember the first shot. i don't want a picture of an egg hanging on my wall i like the idea of her and i together.. we didnt do that this evening because we didnt like any of the back grounds in the house. lol.

we intend to shoot 5 rolls tomorrow around town. so it's not about the film or taking a bad shot. it's more.. ahh, i don't know.. hopefully you understand. if not, im just failing at explaining it...


film vs digital..


ok.. so, i agree with everything you say about film vs digital. you dont have to sell me on the idea of digital. i'm already sold. and we will be going to digital in the next few months. probably around march .

we went with film first because...

my christmas budget allowed me to get us both setup with complete outfits. digital bodies would not have given me that opportunity. not even used bodies.

she HAS to learn film anyway. i agree, it's the digital age, film is not necessary, etc.... but for HER, it IS necessary. Her senior year photography class REQUIRES a FILM camera and B&W film for the entire first semester. it's not until the second semester that she will get to do color and digital. the colleges she is looking at, also require at least one photography class for graphic design. and the first semester is b&w film. if she went for a major in photography, her entire first year would be b&w film. So, moving forward, even if we had gone digital, we would still have to a film body anyway and learn black and white film. now we are prepared ahead of time.

we bought the developing chems and tank so that we can learn that artform, and it's something she will have to learn in her classes also. not to mention, its much cheaper than paying for processing at a lab.

so, as you can see, i don't think we will learn anything from film that we cant learn from digital. but it's going to be a requirement for her regardless. and it allowed us both to get started with most everything we need, within budget. come tax time, we can get digital bodies, and everything we have will swap to them.

this is not about a cost comparison between digital and film.. i know that over the long haul, film will cost us more. but on the short term.. film was cheaper to get started. the rebel 2000 bodies were $28 each. Digital rebel bodies, used, were going to be $150+ each. and i am perfectly fine with that cost. but it was not in the cards for right now. it will be in march.


we ARE going for it just not for a couple months


and i promise... by morning i'll be over my first shot jitters. :meh:

 

[baturn]

How old is your daughter? Come to think of it, how old are you? Just go out and have fun together. Analyze it afterwards.

By the way MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[WesternGuy]

Now that you have clarified the picture - the wherefore and the whys - I say go and have fun with your daughter - enjoy the film experience together - and enjoy the time - they grow up and move away to quickly and above all, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. :thumbup:

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Kerbouchard]

Love your answer and your reasoning. Sounds like you and your daughter have a very special bond. It's refreshing to see a Dad do what you are doing.

Again, IMO, all the more reason why your first shot should be of you and her together. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it's sure to be memorable.

Hope you two have a very Merry Christmas.

ok. here we go again....

this thread was intended to be fun. i am not seriously afraid of taking a picture. i took up this hobby because my daughter and i are both interested in photography. she is following a path in the graphic arts, and will be taking photography classes. we do everything together. i am a single dad. my dad wasn't there for me, so i make it a point to be there for her .. blah blah blah... we play violin together. she screen prints with me. and i'll be learning photography with her. it gives us time together. especially now that she is 16 and my time with her will be diluted more and more with boyfriends and teen stuff.

i am not afriad of wasting film. i'm not afraid of having a bad shot.

i just have first night cold feet.

but really, more than anything else, i just haven't seen anything in the house that i felt would make a good first shot. i was serious when i said i wanted the first to be important. bad or good, i'll end up framing it. just like the first dollar we made in each of our businesses. just like her first homecoming dance pictures, etc... so, taking a photo of the chapstick lying on the desk in front of me... while i have focused on it and a can of coke zero for about 20 minutes, experimenting with dof and focusing the front or the rear object, i don't want THAT to be my first picture..

does that make sense?

it's not a literal fear.. it's more.. i just want to remember the first shot. i don't want a picture of an egg hanging on my wall i like the idea of her and i together.. we didnt do that this evening because we didnt like any of the back grounds in the house. lol.

we intend to shoot 5 rolls tomorrow around town. so it's not about the film or taking a bad shot. it's more.. ahh, i don't know.. hopefully you understand. if not, im just failing at explaining it...


film vs digital..


ok.. so, i agree with everything you say about film vs digital. you dont have to sell me on the idea of digital. i'm already sold. and we will be going to digital in the next few months. probably around march .

we went with film first because...

my christmas budget allowed me to get us both setup with complete outfits. digital bodies would not have given me that opportunity. not even used bodies.

she HAS to learn film anyway. i agree, it's the digital age, film is not necessary, etc.... but for HER, it IS necessary. Her senior year photography class REQUIRES a FILM camera and B&W film for the entire first semester. it's not until the second semester that she will get to do color and digital. the colleges she is looking at, also require at least one photography class for graphic design. and the first semester is b&w film. if she went for a major in photography, her entire first year would be b&w film. So, moving forward, even if we had gone digital, we would still have to a film body anyway and learn black and white film. now we are prepared ahead of time.

we bought the developing chems and tank so that we can learn that artform, and it's something she will have to learn in her classes also. not to mention, its much cheaper than paying for processing at a lab.

so, as you can see, i don't think we will learn anything from film that we cant learn from digital. but it's going to be a requirement for her regardless. and it allowed us both to get started with most everything we need, within budget. come tax time, we can get digital bodies, and everything we have will swap to them.

this is not about a cost comparison between digital and film.. i know that over the long haul, film will cost us more. but on the short term.. film was cheaper to get started. the rebel 2000 bodies were $28 each. Digital rebel bodies, used, were going to be $150+ each. and i am perfectly fine with that cost. but it was not in the cards for right now. it will be in march.


we ARE going for it just not for a couple months


and i promise... by morning i'll be over my first shot jitters. :meh:

 

[ann]

Just take a deep breath, jump in and more than anything else. HAVE FUN.

And as an aside, I am getting a bit tired of this film is so expensive thing. I have personal spent more on digital equipment and upgrading . My darkroom equipment is over 50 years old and never needs upgrading and it will continue to work long after I am gone *except for a light bulb now and then*. Along the same line , inkjet papers are far more expensive than silver printing papers. Yesterday I bought some paper that ran $5 a sheet, and it can go up from there.

Of course this is my decision and I have chosen to move in a specific path with my digital work which won't match others, but really..........

Oh, I still do darkroom work.

So when someone decides they want to jump into using film why not let them enjoy the experience.

THis young lady is going to have a great adventure , let alone naptime and he has thought this out long before purchasing product. Many of us have been following his journey for weeks.

 

[cepwin]

I would also say to just not worry about it and have fun...yes not all of the images will be keepers but when you're learning that's expected...set reasonable expectations and then have fun!