Numbers

Some time ago, Paul challenged me to do the numbers challenge. (This isn’t related to the Photo Challenge, by the way).

The numbers challenge is simple. You put a film in your favourite camera, and take photos of numbers in order. On a 36-exposure film, you’d take pictures of the numbers 1-36 in order, as shown on your film counter.

Then, when you’ve finished the film, develop it and make a contact print of the whole lot, rather than scanning each frame individually. The final result is a unique piece of art.

I managed to squeeze an extra frame out of my film, and shot the numbers 0-36. But I could only fit 30 negatives on a sheet of 10×8″ photographic paper, so I had to make do with that. Some time soon I hope to get round to printing the whole series on a larger piece of paper.

Unfortunately the exposure is a bit “off” in some of these. Individually, they are not nearly as over- or under-exposed as they look. It’s just that some are below average and some are above average exposure, and this doesn’t turn out well in the printing process. If I scanned or printed them individually, they’d all come out fine

If you’re interested in the subject matter, here are the notes I’ve been keeping since September.

1. Road sign in BS1, Bristol
2. Lamppost
3. No 3A, Christmas Steps
4. No 4, Christmas Steps
5. No 5, Christmas Steps
6. Business plaque
7. Can of 7-up
8. No 8, Osborne Villas
9. No 9, Tottenham Place
10. Price tag in Wilkos
11. Graffiti on the wall
12. Multipack of Hula Hoops
13. Petrol price at Tesco
14. Computer screen
15. Coins
16. Multipack of Twix
17. Glowsticks
18. Car park space at Durdham Hall
19. No 19, Woodland Rd
20. 20mph speed limit
21. Birthday card
22. Number on whiteboard
23. Birthday candles
24. 24-hour sign at ASDA
25. 25% off poster
26. Steamy mirror
27. Chart show countdown
28. Calendar
29. Alarm clock LCD
30. 30mph speed limit

Lessons learnt

• Use fast film
• Choose high-contrast subjects (the steamy mirror at #26 didn’t work out at all)
• Be extremely careful with your exposure
• Use a macro lens, if you have one. Most numbers you find are quite small!