Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A year in the life, one photo at a time

About two and a half years ago, I started a 365 project, shooting at least one photo every day for a year. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to keep up with it but  figured it was worth a try and miraculously, I made it through all 365 days without missing a single one. I won't pretend it was easy - there were some pretty terrible shots in there - but in the end, it turned out to be a pretty amazing catalog not only of what had happened in my life that year, but also of the evolution of my photography. Whenever I start to doubt whether I've really made any progress, I go back to the early shots from year one and the difference becomes immediately apparent.

Taking a photo every single day pushes you to look at the world differently and try new techniques. As with anything, practice makes perfect, and you can't help becoming a better photographer along the way. It may be the single most beneficial thing I've done to improve my photography.

Two and a half years later, my project is still going strong (although I'm still behind from my recent vacation), and although I haven't had as much time to dedicate to it as I would like recently, I still love looking for something new each day, sharing with other photographers and interacting with and learning from a great group of people. On two separate occasions, I've been lucky enough to meet up with friends from the project and spend the day shooting in great company. Who knows how long I'll keep it up, but for now I'm enjoying recording my days one photo at a time.



Friday, July 13, 2012

Welcome

Now that I've gotten my site off the ground, I thought it was time to get around to creating the blog that I kept meaning to create "someday".  I've had so many experiences in setting up my business and in pushing my photographic comfort zone where I've thought, "I should blog about that!" so my hope is to share some of these thoughts here.

I always find starting a blog challenging. I've got all these ideas swimming around in my head, but once I get a layout done up I find myself staring at the "compose" screen, cursor blinking maddeningly, as if to say, "Well, when are you going to write something?" It felt a bit like that starting my website too. Creating a layout was easy, but deciding on the content was more than a little overwhelming. I found myself starting to second guess every selection I made. "Is this one REALLY good enough?" "If I hadn't taken this, would I want it on my wall?" Where I thought I'd be really excited to get my site off the ground, in reality I was dreading it. Where I thought I'd feel confident and proud as I looked at this group of hand-selected shots that I was in love with when I took them, I was self-conscious and almost embarrassed... "Is this really the best I can do? Are these all I've got?" I even pulled the site just after I did a soft launch to a couple of friends, although now I couldn't even tell you why - I'm guessing pure fear.

Thankfully self-pity, party of one, was unable to get a standing reservation and after a few days I was back at it with more determination than before. The thing I found about launching a business is that it never feels right. I didn't like the way this or that looked, I didn't know what to say in my bio, I didn't have enough photos in this or that gallery. Finally I realized that I could rationalize my way out of ever going live with little effort, but if I was serious about wanting a photography site, it was time to throw myself to the wolves.

After a few months of having my site live, I know I still have lots of work to do. That's the reality of having a business - the work is never done. But that's also the fun part of it. Having to generate new content means having that much more of an excuse to spend a few hours with my camera, seeing the world through my lens. And having my site is a reminder and a challenge to be critical of my own work and to keep learning and pushing my photographic comfort zone. If starting a photo site is something you've ever considered, go for it. I can't tell you it will be easy, but I can tell you it will be worth it.