36 for 36: One Shot of Film a Day for 36 Days

The objective: capture a daily shot on my film camera for 36 days. Get better at photography. Get more creative. Get accustomed to snapping pics — no matter the day or situation.

Why 36 days? Because a roll of film has 36 more exposures. [Skip the next paragraph if you don’t care for technicalities.]

Technically speaking, most rolls of film have either 24 or 36 exposures. I gravitate to the 36 exposure rolls of films because I don’t have to reload and develop the film as often . “Exposure” in photography terms means the amount of light that reaches a camera’s light sensor (or frame of film for film photography). To keep it simple think of an exposure as a shot or a photo snapped.

I embarked on this experiment on my pursuit to go from a mediocre, amateur photographer to a slightly less mediocre, amateur photographer. The structure of the experiment was inspired by the idea of a PACT from the book Tiny Experiments by Anne Le Cunff. In a nutshell, Anne’s perspective was to have more of an experimental mindset and to focus less on the rigid goal setting frameworks we are accustomed to and to instead approach the world and life from a lens of curiosity. As it relates to your typical goals, place emphasis on outputs (e.g., “write one new recipe every week until the end of the year”), rather than outcomes (e.g., “publish a cookbook by the end of the year”). I could go in much more detail about this book but that’s not the intent of this blog. It might finally be time for me to join a book club…

Over the course of 36 days, I took far more than 36 photos. Some days resulted in 10-15 photos b/c I was on a roll (pun intended). Anyways, I wanted to share some of what I picked up over this 36 day window.

• Reps: The quotes about practice are endless… “Perfect practice makes perfect”, “10,000 hour rule”, “Practice is the bridge between your abilities and success”, etc. However, regardless of the quote and how you want to frame it, the message is consistent: repetition is necessary to improve at something. So that is just what I did. The increase in the quantity of my shots did not guarantee an increase in the quality of my shots. Instead the increased reps improved my eye’s ability to spot a worthy shot. An added bonus was that the more time I held the camera, the more I tinkered with other settings, which eventually opened my eyes to shooting manually. There’s no way to bypass the work, so get the reps in.

• "I don’t want to carry this thing everywhere”: That thought went through my head often. Most film cameras are from back in the day, so they are not as sleek and slim like a smartphone that slips right into your pocket. They are not discrete so they are either hanging on your neck or in your hand at all times. You become more conscious of having it on you and in turn it forces you to think about what would be a good shot, irrespective of where you are. Another bonus was it became habitual to bring my camera with me more often, whether that be going to the grocery store or a full on event with friends or family — the “epicness” of the setting did not sway me. As the saying goes on social media, “You know I keep that thang on me”, and having the camera on me more consistently helped me miss out less on opportunities to capture a worthy shot.

• Creativity: This one was the biggest positive. It is easy to get a good shot when your setting is vacation, a breathtaking spot in nature, a fun event with friends or family, a place with impeccable lighting, or you’re simply out and about with plenty of subjects. You know what is not so easy? When your creative juices are not flowing or your day has consisted of being completely inside or your lighting is shit. Those factors forced me to think more out of the box and look at things from a different perspective — trying new angles, using the self-timer setting more, capturing subjects I would never otherwise think to, or snapping a pic in settings I wasn’t used to. What that looked like in practice was me putting the camera on the ground and staring down at it from above when taking a pic, using the self-timer mode to get a shot of myself on a solo hike, taking a pic of a random drink, snapping a pic in the pitch black of a full moon, or taking a pic of myself mid-shave… It was a random assortment of ideas but the point is that these situations or scenes I snapped were unconventional when compared to the types of pics I usually captured.

• Consistency > Perfection: When you seek perfection, you either burn out or just never get the practice in. In this scenario, that is waiting for the perfect setting to take a photo. That can result in pictures few and far between. In the long run, you improve in any arena when you are consistent. The quest for perfection is typically a hinderance. So go ahead and snap that shot everyday even if it you don’t have the ideal set up.

I hope reading this sparks some of your curiosity and gets you to either experiment with something new or get back into an activity, skill, hobby that you’ve been neglecting. Go for it!

As for me, I will keep this photography thing going while embarking on another PACT. But in the meantime, expect more A1 shots from me. Disclaimer: beauty is in the eye of beholder;)

P.S. All shots below are over the course of the 36 day period. 1/1/26 - 2/5/26.

Testing self-timer while practicing tennis solo dolo

Snooping around the former Goat Farm

My fiancée :)

Hazy day at Bitsy Grant

4:30am in the lobby of an Istanbul hotel… long day of travels

Backgammon. iykyk

My latest fixation

Framing the shot with the wooden beams

Feeling like Harvey Dent

Scrum-diddly-umptious

Iran forever and always

Horses are majestic

Chase bldg

When the Sun hits

Atlanta “snow day” (those specs are the “snow” lol)

Shout out Thursday Boots

Very random but I was digging this. Like I was saying earlier, beauty is in the eye of the beholder ;)

My (Failed) Travels to Iran in Jan ‘26

I just attempted to travel to Iran in January 2026 as a first generation Persian-American. The timing could not have been worse — intense protests kicked off, there is a full scale internet and cell blackout, and some even claim a revolution is in the works. What transpired resulted in a crazy 72 hours.

The reason for writing this post is threefold:

• Raise awareness about Iran — both culturally and based on current affairs

• Highlight my failed travel experience

• Get my thoughts "on paper”. My mind is racing after the information overload I experienced, so expressing it all would benefit me. And to be quite frank, I am a yapper and have always been very willing to share because I find it therapeutic and I also love connecting with people.

This post is split into three part (shown by the bolded titles) so hopefully there is some semblance of organization to my storytelling…

A. Why Travel to Iran in the Midst of Chaos and Uncertainty?

That was the predominant theme behind all the questions my sister and I received leading up to this trip. And they are very fair.

The week or two prior to this trip, protests had broken out across various cities so people feared our safety was at risk trying to go at a time like this. As a result, I had endless debates — internally in the depths of my own mind and with family — leading up to the trip. Literally up to the last few hours prior to leaving my home in Atlanta. I did not think it was possible to be this stressed prior to a trip… and I have had quite a few stressful lead ups to trip, but none compared to this one.

Anyways, to answer the main question above:

• My employer has granted me an extended sabbatical. So what better time than now to visit Iran? Current events aside, I speak from the perspective of a great deal of flexibility with my time.

• Both my parents are dead. So a large part of my connection to Iran and its culture died with them… Ok I’m being slightly dramatic but a lot of truth lies in that statement. They were my main link to Iran so it is much more difficult now to speak Farsi with someone, hear stories about their time in Iran pre-1979 revolution, learn about cultural norms, eat all the delicious, homemade Persian meals, especially the less mainstream ones not served at the restaurants, etc.

• My last visit was 24 years ago. I last stepped foot on Iranian soil as a 7 year old in the Summer of 2002. So I remember very little.

• There is a bit of soul searching involved. I yearn to go back to my motherland and be reconnected with my roots.

B. What Ensued During the Chaotic 72 Hours of Travel?

So logistically, it was Atlanta to Istanbul to Tehran. Our flight from Istanbul to Tehran took off the night of January 8. At this point things finally felt REAL. Against all the odds, we were going to make it to Iran. My excitement was through the roof — I felt like I was on top of the world. At last, returning to the motherland!

Well we were a mere hour into the flight when the captain says we have to turn around because the Iranian airspace has been shutdown. It took all us passengers by surprise and everyone was up in arms. Questions were being hurled left and right — What is going on?, Why is the airspace shutdown?, What are we going to do because I have to XYZ?, What do protests on the ground have to do with the air?, Was Turkish Airlines not privy to this information prior to our takeoff?, etc.

Once we touched back down in Istanbul — much to our dismay — what took place over the next 24 hours was chaos. It was coordinating with gate agents and customer services representatives, getting rebooked onto alternate Iran flights, those rebooked flights getting canceled as the airspace was still shut down, struggling to be booked into a hotel to squeeze in a quick power nap, getting shuttled back and forth between the Istanbul airport and hotels, certain Iranian’s trying to rally all of us to take a bus for the roughly 24 hour trek from Istanbul to the Iranian border, flying to Van (a small town near the border of Turkey and Iran), checking if Mahan Air had flights, and various other ideas were proposed to somehow get us to Iran. It was madness.

For my sister and I, we faced the grim reality that we were not making it to Iran after all. After multiple rerouted / cancelled flights from Istanbul to Tehran, we realized it truly was not logistically possible. Our travels were cut short and we headed back to the States. That was a tough pill to swallow. However, for a majority of the passengers on our failed flights, they did not have have alternate places to go — Iran is their home. I joined a WhatsApp group chat with a handful of them and as of the time of this writing (morning of January 12 EST), they are all still stranded. And trust me when I tell you that they have exhausted just about every option available.

C. Takeaways: The Good and The Bad of Iran

Until this point, this post has focused on my experience. However, in my eyes it is critical to raise awareness about this amazing country that so often is misrepresented online and in the news. I do not have one cohesive theme here so rather, I have bulleted some key points.

1. The Bad: Internet and Cell Blackout — I realize this fact is not widely shared. However, as of the time of this writing, the government has cut all internet and cellular activity for close to 96 hours. This is highly alarming and is a clear tactic to quell people’s voices and not let the world see what is taking place over there. People are unable to communicate from Iran to the rest of the world. And to my understanding (this is not fact checked), they cannot communicate within the country. Given the hyperconnected world we live in, this idea of no communication is difficult to imagine. However, here are a few scenarios to make it more real. People there seeking freedom from the oppressive regime want to share the injustices being carried out to the rest of the world, but they cannot. People, like myself, are seeking peace of mind that their family members are safe, but we cannot communicate with them. People there are seeking some form of aid, but they cannot reach the outside world.

2. The Bad: The Regime — There is a lot I can say here. Enough for a separate post about the religious dictatorship that is the current regime. When I say “religious dictatorship”, let me be clear that they completely misconstrue Islam and it is not a true representation of the religion. If all my writing up until this point has not already jeopardized my chances of stepping foot back in Iran, then this likely will. The regime is maniacal and oppressive. The one item I want to call out is that traveling there is not black and white unlike most other countries. What do I mean by this? If you travel to another country, as long as you have completed the checklist of items (e.g., passport is updated, you paid a fee or obtain a visa, you filled out an e-form), then in a majority of instances you can enter the country just fine. However, entering Iran for someone like me is a bit tricky. I am a dual citizen. As a male citizen, you must serve in the military. To receive military exemption you previously had to pay a fee but nowadays you send your Iranian passport to the consulate in DC (we unfortunately do not have an embassy) to obtain a military exemption stamp. However, even with me completing the necessary steps, there was still a very real chance of me being held by Iranian Customs. This could occur either at the point of entering Iran OR being called back to the airport or some government office once I was already in Iran traveling around OR the scenario I was told about the most: being held on my way out of the country and not being able to leave. This is what I mean when I say traveling there is not black and white. You never know what can happen.

3. The Good: The Iranian People’s Resilience — Whether it is the Iranians within Iran or the ones outside of Iran, time and time again I have observed an incredible resilience in the people. It is very admirable. I witnessed it as a child with my parents and family. I witnessed it this past weekend in the airport amidst all the unknowns and challenges my fellow passengers faced. I witnessed it from countless stories I have heard over the years. In my opinion, the reason cannot be pinpointed to one single thing. I believe there are a few key factors: A) When you are under the rule of an oppressive regime, you must be scrappy, you must be able to endure, you must find a will to live in order to survive. B) It is a byproduct of A, but the hyperinflation there has made it damn near impossible to survive. You see your life’s work and savings lose all their value. You try to buy basic products and they cost a fortune. “At the time of Iran’s 1979 revolution, the US dollar converted to about 70 Iranian rials. By early 2026, it surged past 1.4 million rials, meaning Iran’s currency has lost roughly 20,000 times its value over four decades.” Source. C) For the Iranians living abroad, I think the immigrant mindset plays a huge part into being resilient. When you lose damn near everything you had as a result of the fleeing the country, you basically have to start from scratch. And a great deal of the Iranians I have met in the US and elsewhere are a well educated bunch who had to resort to whatever means to survive. I witnessed this with my own parents.

4. The Good: The Society and The People — It is critical to separate the people from the government. What I mention here is anecdotal, but I hear countless stories from the limited, non-Iranian tourists who visit Iran about how friendly, warm, and welcoming the locals are. The locals welcome non-Iranians with open arms and my understanding is that many locals feel joy seeing non-Iranians visit their country and experience their culture. Just this morning I saw a touching story of a Japanese man who just visited Iran and was welcomed into people’s homes. I think this story (source) sums up what I am explaining pretty well. The second part of this is the society. It is a shame how much the country has been rundown since its peak pre-revolution. It used to be booming with tourism. It was the premier country in the Middle East. And if we go way further back, the country is so rich in culture, advancements and critical discoveries in science, technology, math, medicine, poetry and much more. I will be honest, I am the furthest thing from a historian so I am not very knowledgeable in this area, but I do know there is a lot of great things Persian society has contributed to the broader global society.

Hopefully this helps you gain a new perspective on Iran. Thank you for reading:) Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to chat further.

P.S. If you hear the word “Persian”, often times people are using it synonymously for “Iranian”. I am guilty of this. However, if we are being technical, there is a distinction. Iranian is a nationality but Persian is an ethnicity.

Us in Hartsfield filled with joy and excitement, for what we thought would be a successful trip to Iran…