The 2017 edition of the 24 Hour Project was the first time I have participated so I was a bit unsure what to expect. I took the afternoon off from work on Friday with hopes of getting a few hours of sleep. I did lay down for a bit and got some rest but sleep was elusive as the excitement of the pending 24 hours was too much to overcome. What this meant was that I was about to be up for 42 hours before falling asleep early Sunday.

I met up with my friend Jake at 11:30 Friday night and we drove into Milwaukee. Our planned first stop was the area around Oakland and North. I posted my first photo of the night in Von Trier at 12:13am and enjoyed a tasty Founders Breakfast Stout. Second shot of the night happened just outside Von Trier as we left at 1:03am. From there we took some photos around the donut shop on the corner of North and Oakland and then had a drink at the Eastsider.

Bars in Wisconsin close at 2am so we wandered the area a bit but quickly decided to find people at Ma Fischer’s Diner. This was my third photo, outside the restaurant at 2:31am, and my fourth inside at 3:29am.

2:31am

3:29am

The photos needed from 4-6am were a couple of the toughest of the entire project. It was a chilly April 1st morning and the streets of Milwaukee were deserted. Additionally, a couple of drinks, a stomach full of breakfast food, and a lack of sleep added up to extreme exhaustion. I nearly fell asleep in the car waiting for a stoplight to change. Finally in desperation we both found people doing their last bit of bar cleanup. Jake got his photo at the County Claire and I got mine at Cafe Hollander on Downer Ave at 4:54am. After that difficult hour I figured to have better odds of finding people, we needed to go to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station where there is rail and bus service. The place was far from full but we did manage to take care of the 5-6am hour. I got my photo outside at 5:24.

Shortly after 5:30am we could see the first bit of light coming up over the eastern horizon and we headed to the lakeshore. The steadily increasing light was like a shot of adrenalin and suddenly my head cleared, my legs had a spring to them that had been missing the past two hours, and I knew the rest of the day would be ok. The sunrise was beautiful and I got a nice reflection/silhouette photo of another photographer at 6:03am.

6:03am

We grabbed some excellent coffee at the lakefront Colectivo and I took care of the next two hours with a photo in McKinley Marina and one in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. From there we headed to Brady Street but not too many people were out yet. I managed a desperation photo of a window washer at 9:47am and three ladies in Peter Sciortino’s Bakery at 10:09am. On the hunt for more people, Jake and I headed south to Bay View but the sidewalks were nearly deserted. Where is everyone??? I took a photo at the Bay View Colectivo at 11:36am and knew we needed to find people as we crossed the halfway point in the day.

The Milwaukee Art museum did not fail. I took care of the 12-2pm photo requirements with an outside photo of the iconic Burke Brise Soleil at 12:11pm and inside at 1:27pm. I also was able to take a second look at the excellent Helen Levitt: In the Street exhibit as well as watch about 20 minutes of the 61 minute mesmerizing Street video by James Nares. It is a masterpiece of slow motion street scenes in New York City done with a high speed camera. Incredible.

1:27pm

24 photos. One every hour. You are always on the clock. The pressure of the clock increased in the afternoon as my brain felt sluggish and inspiration faded. The timing of my next two photos are a dead giveaway to this as I got them at 2:57pm and 3:59pm. Then two more at 4:22pm and 5:16pm. Neither were satisfying but as each hour drew to a close, they were the best I had. Finally I caught one of the many skateboarders I saw that day at 6:25pm and decided we needed a change of venue.

6:25pm

From here we took a brief detour to the top of the parking ramp near the historic Pabst Brewery and took a near golden hour photo of the Milwaukee skyline to the east.

After that brief reprise, we went for food and drink as the streets cleared and people packed into bars to watch the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four games. On the upside, there are plenty of people, good beer and food to be found in a bar. On the downside, it is quite dark and that noticably increased the challenge of getting a good shot. Shot 20 came at 7:47pm in Stubby’s Gastropub. After that stop we had a good idea of how we wanted to end the night so we headed back to Bay View and I got this shot at 8:28pm of the hostess at Odd Duck.

8:28pm

Photo 22 was inside Cafe Central right at 9:00pm. Checking this box right away took some pressure off and with the end in sight, we began discussing the day a bit. Then it was off to Burnhearts where I got photo 23 at 10:47pm and finally, we finished the day with a fantastic Old Fashioned at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge. Whiskey sour for me, bourbon sweet for Jake. I uploaded the final photo of the project at 11:52pm. I dropped Jake off around 12:30am and my head hit the pillow at home shortly after 1:00am.

A few technical/operational details. Both Jake and I used the Fuji X100T for the project. I’ve had mine for a year and a half and I have really enjoyed using it. It was perfect for this project. I was on my sixth battery as the day drew to a close. Six. I knew battery life would be an issue, particularly using the X100T’s built in wi-fi to transfer an image to my iPhone 6s+ each hour, so I had plenty on hand. Still, six batteries is kind of crazy. I’ll enjoy a future where this is less of an issue.

The Fuji has a number of film simulations built in. I shot in black and white with a yellow filter for the whole day. Jake was shooting in Classic Chrome. I lightly edited photos on my phone using Snapseed and sometimes added just a minor tweak in the Instagram app. I really like the selective editing capabilities in Snapseed compared to most mobile apps that use global adjustments only. Jake was using the Filmborn app for editing, both in color and black and white.

Overall, this was a great adventure. There were moments I questioned my sanity but those passed quickly. Finding someone you can shoot with for the full 24 hours is critical. After many long days of shooting with Jake in Chicago, it was great fun to experience this with him and we’re both committed to doing it again next year.

See my 24 photos on Instagram or here.

See Jake’s 24 photos on Instagram or Flickr.