End-of-the-roll magic
September 2019
Sometimes the shot you want is the first one you take. But more often than not the energy on a shoot changes, things evolve, light shifts, your subject gets hungry, or you want to try a radically different approach. Sometimes it’s not until the end of a roll that the image you’ve been waiting for jumps out at you.
Normally it comes when you’ve been holding your breath - and you’ve managed to contort your body into an awkward shape to get the frame you want. And then sometimes, it happens. Nearing the end of a roll the stakes can feel higher; you still haven’t got the shot, so you’re looking harder. Maybe you’ve stopped caring so much and that’s done the trick. Sometimes your subject relaxes just that little bit more or they are looking at you more intensely waiting for the sound of the shutter.
On rewinding the film you might not fully take stock of the moment that has squeezed its way onto record. But on reviewing your negatives, that last moment captured just before the end, often holds something that feels different from the rest.