Alright. Here’s the scoop on the 24/7 7 Day Challenge I completed yesterday. Seven Days of Photojournalism.
Every morning I meditate for about 20-50 minutes. Part of that meditation is me asking for inspired action. When I feel inspired to do something during my meditation, I take it very seriously.
One day during my meditation, I felt inspired to carry my camera on me in the same fashion I did in the Army with my M249 Machine Gun. 24/7 Non-Stop, by my side no matter what I was doing. For instance, Eating, sleeping, on a date, running an errand, etc. Whatever I did, wherever I went, the camera was never more than a couple feet from my hand for one full week.
Having done this several times before for months at a time with a weapon, I knew it was possible and that it would become second nature for me quickly.
The universe spoke the challenge and I did it.
Contrary to popular belief, it didn’t mean I fired the shutter constantly. It just meant that I COULD. If I needed/wanted to in a seconds notice.
Half of the challenge is just allowing an item I rely on to become an extension of my body. A part of me. It wasn’t about shooting allot, but my hand and my body moving with a camera body as if it were a part of me.
Think of it like you would your wedding/engagement ring. Doesn’t it feel weird when you forget it for a day? Or maybe, you can’t even imagine not wearing it for a day….that’s what I was working towards but with my camera.
At first I only felt inspired to photograph food…
If I had to do a large print to display somewhere, I think I’d pick this one.
I had to play with distance and fstop to get as much in focus as I wanted.
I have theories about shutter speed and iso, ambient light, and available light overall…this is me playing around with this concept. I will definitely play with this hunch I have more with a model soon. In short, I think if you bump your iso way up to have a fast shutter speed in a light rich area you’ll have a higher quality image than a bumped iso in a low light area meaning that one should feel comfortable with the quality of an image in a light rich zone with a high iso in ways that they don’t with less light with the same iso. In this situation I was also thinking about ambient artificial light effecting my shadows with an equal amount of natural light in my highlights.
I was thinking about canceling out my shadows for a clean white balance.
something accomplished with a faster shutter speed. My hope is that you can have a super fast shutter speed to clean up a muddy ambient light and still have a quality image when you have equal amounts of natural light but still need a high iso to expose properly….However higher iso lets in more of that muddy light so there’s going to have to be a proper balance on the two extremes….I don’t know what I’m talking about yet but I know I’m onto something….just wait a couple months.
The exercise was definitely inspired. I did get more comfortable with my camera. I had new valuable thoughts and captured some really sweet moments. I’ll definitely make this a regular practice.
This is such a cool challenge that you did and I loved getting to see all the different pictures! I kind of want to try it out and see what I come up with. I feel like I don’t shoot enough personal stuff and would love to do more of that. If we had our cameras with us more often we wouldn’t miss those special moments in our own lives!
It’s so true! An absolutely worthwhile challenge. I’ll definitely do it again. Personal work is hard to prioritize but so so valuable.