Before there was digital photography, photography was a very different art form. It can be argued that over the years something has been lost with the new digital ways of working. We're now able to shoot thousands upon thousands of images very quickly and we can instantly see our images on the back of the camera.
There was a time where photographers had to think carefully about every single press of the shutter, the decisive moment (Popularised by Henri Cartier-Bresson - The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself). Nowadays thanks to SD, XQD and Compact Flash and all other forms of storage cards, we're able to shoot to your heart's content . Imagine a time though, where you were instead limited to 12, 24, or 36 shots maximum per roll of film and each shot had a real cost to it.
In those times photographers had to be extremely disciplined and certain of their technical ability. Can you picture yourself shooting a wedding and waiting a week for your images to return from the lab where you'll see the developed for the first time. You had to know that what you were shooting was exactly what you needed and that it was shot correctly. There simply wasn't an option to fix things in Photoshop or overshoot and choose the best shots.
There's no denying that the advances that have been made in the photography industry have been for the better and we're really able to take advantage of the new technologies available to us. We no longer need to worry about how many rolls of film we need to take to a shoot, we can get the best out of our images in post processing software, digitally store hundreds of thousands of images and the list goes on. What we can take from the film days and keep with us on every shoot and with every shot we take is to think like we're shooting film. Think about every shot you're taking and ask yourself "Will I be removing this from the import in Lightroom" if you are then just don't take it. Wait for the right moment. Think carefully and critically all the time, take only the shots you know you need and will work. Not only will you find you're thinking about what you're shooting more but you'll actually save yourself hours of time in post.
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