From Contact Sheet to Final Pick

As part of the WE35 project I’m doing, the second subject to photograph was a contact sheet.

For those unfamiliar with a contact sheet, it’s a print with small thumbnail sized images of all the photographs in a series. Before digital, it was either 12, 24 or 35 photos because those were the size of film rolls.

With digital, a contact sheet can be however many you need. However, 36 is usually a good limit. So the project was to photograph 36 frames as if you were photographing film. Some of the WE35 explorers are using film.

The timing of the contact sheet series was perfect, as I had to do a weekend trip up to Connecticut to teach a class at CTPPA.

So the bulk of the contact sheet you will see is just that. It’s the drive up to Connecticut, around the hotel, and back to New Jersey. Since I was only out of state for a short period, I continued the series around home.

My single pick from the series is the hallway leading to my hotel room. I wanted to go with dark black and whites for the series and accomplished it until the snow reached New Jersey. So the hallway is underexposed with really cool light on the wallpaper and carpet.