The one-day shoot rule

Why my personal films get exactly one day of shooting, and what the constraint gives back.

Every film in the Field Recordings series gets one day. Not because more days wouldn’t help — because the limit forces decisions that unlimited time lets you avoid. You stop waiting for better light and start seeing the light you have. You stop directing the subject and start following them.

The rule migrated into client work as a bidding discipline: when I scope a shoot, I ask what we’d capture if we only had one day, and that list becomes the spine of the schedule. Everything else is insurance.

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