Searching for a Project

I was browsing through some blogs and my Twitter feed this morning, and I stumbled across a tweet (I still hate that word) from Scott Bourne talking about the over 250 photographers that have joined Tasra Dawson on her tasra365 challenge to:

• Take at least 1 photo every day.
• Read at least 1 page in my camera manual every day.
• View other professional images every day.

 This got me thinking that I need to get myself into another project.  I haven't been doing much of anything photography-wise, despite the ambitious goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year, and I've decided I need a new project to spark some creative motivation.  I don't think the tasra365 challenge is for me; I'm really not up for another 365-project right now.  The goal about reading a page in my manual every day isn't a bad idea, though.  I'll have to do some serious brainstorming this weekend and see what ideas I can come up with.

Update - Just read a good article on Tasra's website that relates to this topic: Want to Grow as a Photography? Get Serious with a Photo Series

The Impossible Project

NPR.org's Picture Show blog ran a nice story last week on The Impossible Project.  This project was launched in the wake of Polaroid's decision to end production of their instant exposure film last February.  A small team has rented a factory and acquired the machinery needed to produce the film, and they plan to release monochrome and color film packs later this year (the NPR story has more background on the project; I don't want to regurgitate their article).

I got into Polaroid cameras last year, when I bought an old, used Polaroid 600 Business Edition camera from eBay.  I'll admit I didn't do my research beforehand, and I didn't even realize at the time that the film had been discontinued a few months prior.  I look forward to seeing what The Impossible Project can do.  It would be nice to not have to buy heavily-marked up old film on eBay.

Archives: WALL-E 365 Project, 2008-2009

Continuing with the short Archives, today I'm featuring the WALL-E 365 project that I did.  Originally started a as project on Flickr, my goal was to take one picture of a WALL-E action figure every day for an entire year.  It was ambitious project, and one that wasn't fully successful: the entire project took closer to fifteen months to get 365 pictures, and a few of the days I used more than one picture.  Still, it was a fun series that drew more attention than any of my other projects, and gave me some great results (and some not so great).  You can view the entire project, and some outtakes, here.

New Year's Photography Resolutions

I'm not normally one for New Year's resolutions, but there are a lot of photography-related goals that I want to set for myself this year.  The This Week In Photography blog had a good post about resolutions that every photographer should adopt, most of which apply for me.  Using that post for inspiration (and a similar post from Digital Photography School), I came up with the following list of goals/resolutions for myself:

• Learn how to use every feature on my Sony a200.  Like the first resolution listed by TWIP, I am definitely guilty of only learning a couple features on my camera and using them all the time.  I really need to READ THE MANUAL and learn how to use everything on the camera.  After owning the camera for a year and a half, I have no excuse.

• Learn how to post-process my photos.  Another resolution from TWIP, learning how to process my photos after I take them is something I've been putting off for a long time.  Currently I only do a minimal amount of editing with Faststone Image Viewer, mainly consisting of cropping and adjusting contrast, brightness, and color saturation.  While I don't think Photoshop should be used as a crutch to manipulate bad photos, it is definitely something I need to use to take my photography to the next level.

• Start and finish a new photography project.  I've attempted two real photography projects over the past couple years.  The first was a 365-day self-portrait project that I abandoned about half way through.  The second project was taking 365 pictures of the same object every day for a year.  I used a WALL-E action figure for my project, which I just recently completed after dragging it out to fifteen months.  I definitely don't have the drive or interest in doing another 365 project at this time, but I definitely want to do at least one new project this year.  I'll be looking for new ideas soon.

• Read at least 10 photography-related books.  I've been reading a lot more books for pleasure the past few years (not that I'm out of college and don't have all that assigned reading hanging over my head--not that I did it anyway), but this year I'm going to make a concerted effort to read more books relating to photography, whether that's instructional books, to books on the history of photography, to biographies of photographers.

• Create a new photography book. I recently put together a photo album from MyPublisher of some pictures my fiancee and I had taken for our engagement as a Christmas present to my fiancee, and I had a blast putting it together.  I realized I would love to put together a photo album or two of some of my better collections, such as my road trip to the Southwest, my WALL-E 365 project, or the Nine Inch Nails concert that I shot.  The big hangup for this is that I don't want to spend too much money, so I'll probably limit myself to only one or two books, as my financial situation allows.  I may also put this off until I learn how to post-process my photos.  If I'm going to pay to put a book together, I want the pictures looking as good as I can make them.

• Continue to expand this blog.  I'm creating this blog as an outlet to share my thoughts and progress as a photographer, and to motivate myself to continue to improve.  I think maintaining this blog will be an important part in my development.

• Learn to shoot film.  This is probably the most ambitious goal on the list, and honestly the one that I'm least concerned with accomplishing this year.  I inherited a number of old film cameras from my grandfather, who was a photographer, that have mainly sat around in a closet since I got them.  I'd love to learn to shoot and develop film (other than the Polaroid camera I use), but I think developing my skills as a digital photographer is the more immediate priority.

• Get published again.  So far I have had two of my photos professionally published: once in Elle Girl magazine in South Korea, and again in the 2009 edition of the Capture Cincinnati photo book.  I want to get a minimum of one picture published again in the Capture Cincinnati 2010 book, and I'll look to find a way to have my work published in at least one other manner.
  

Those are my big goals for the coming year.  I'll be sure to update my progress throughout the year.  Hopefully posting these goals here will keep me committed and working hard.  Here's to 2010!

Archives: Nine Inch Nails in Noblesville, IN - May 30, 2009

As I said in the first Archives post that I made, as I work to get this blog rolling, I'll be posting some of my old pictures that I feel are highlights in my photography experience up to this point.

Back in 2008-2009, I had the opportunity to see one of my all-time favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails, four different times in concert.  One of the great things about NIN is that they extended an open camera policy to their fans, meaning people could bring in just about any type of digital camera or camcorder to record the concert.  I only brought my Canon SD750 to the three shows I saw in 2008, with some mediocre results.  Clearly, a rock concert isn't the best place to use a point-and-shoot camera, and you can see the results from the Cleveland, Lexington, and Columbus shows on my flickr page.

The fourth NIN show that I took my camera to was the May 30th show in Noblesville, Indiana, on their final tour with the bands Street Sweeper Social Club and Jane's Addiction.  This time, I made the decision to take my Sony a200, and I couldn't believe how pleased I was with the results.  This concert is one of the few times I've used a full Manual mode on my camera, and really it was just luck that I guessed right on the settings, adjusting as I went.  As with most of my old pictures, these pictures are relatively unedited.  You can see the entire set from the concert, but here is a sampling of some of my favorite shots:

Street Sweeper Social Club

  

Nine Inch Nails

  

 

 

 

 

Jane's Addiction

Archives: Road Trip to the Southwest - April, 2009

In order to help get this blog kick-started, I'm going to be uploading some of my older photos that I'm proud of.  I'll start today with some pictures from my road trip last April to the Southwest United States.  Below are a few of my favorite shots; you can view the entire set here on my flickr page.  These were all taken with me Sony a200.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

  

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

 

Somewhere along the road in New Mexico or Arizona

 

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

 

Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona

 

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

 

View from Angel's Landing, Zion National Park, Utah

 

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

 

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

 

Outside of The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.