How Many Pictures Do You Take?

Feeding Frenzy At Lincoln Park Zoo

Seagull at North Avenue Beach

I was watching some people take photos at the Chicago Air & Water Show and it dawned on me that in one day, I take as many or more photos than some people do in a lifetime.

While at North Avenue Beach, I noticed that most people had digital cameras with them. But some others were still shooting with disposable "point and shoot" cameras! They'd take a shot and then wait a long time and then take another. I wondered if they even shot the entire roll of 24 exposures or not that day!

How many did I shoot last Saturday at the Air and Water Show? Well, it was over 700! When you shoot images at a frame rate of 9 frames per second, you can easily go way over the amount you intended to shoot. While many of these shots all look the same, I was looking for the best exposures and images that were the sharpest.

Then I considered how many images I shoot at weddings. Easily, I can do anywhere from 800 to 2000 images on a wedding day! It all depends on what's happening that day.

So while some people take perhaps 1000 or 2000 images their whole lives, I can do that in one day. And I do it over and over again... day after day, week after week...