A Notebook Per Camera
I tried apps. I tried writing on the film box. I tried remembering. What finally worked is the most boring option: a pocket notebook that lives in each camera bag and never leaves it.
The format
One line per frame, five columns. Frame number, aperture, shutter speed, a two-word subject, and a mark if I bracketed. When a roll is finished, I write the film stock, the date range and the place on the top of the page and fold the corner.
It sounds slow, but after a week it takes three seconds per frame. And it pays back the first time a negative comes out thin and you can see immediately that you were at 1/500 in the shade of a building.
What it changed
- I shoot fewer frames, because writing each one down makes me ask whether it is worth it.
- My metering got better. Patterns show up quickly when you can flip through ten rolls in a minute.
- Scanning is faster, because I already know which frames I care about.
The notebooks are cheap, soft-cover, squared paper. I number them on the spine. There are eleven on the shelf now.