In November I picked up a secondhand Olympus OM-1 and committed to shooting only film for three months. No digital backup. No chimping. Just 36 exposures per roll and a lot of waiting.
The economics of attention
When every frame costs money — roughly a dollar per shot once you factor in developing — you start to see differently. Not better, necessarily, but more deliberately.
I found myself spending more time looking before raising the camera. Composition became a conscious act rather than a spray-and-pray exercise.
What I learned
The biggest surprise wasn’t about photography at all. It was about patience. In a world optimized for instant feedback, waiting ten days to see your photos is a radical act.
Some of my best frames from these three months were happy accidents — light leaks, slight underexposure, the grain of Portra 400 doing its thing. The imperfections became the point.