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.