6 posts tagged “project”
So you have enlisted in project365 - how hard can it be? All you have to do is pick up your camera once a day. How long does it take to make a picture? 1/125 of a second on average? That's only 1/10800000th of your day. This should be easy.
I mentioned much earlier in my Vox blog how I use a bridge close to my office as a photographic subject and exercise when I don't have anything better to shoot. Last week, John on the Photo WalkThrough podcast set the challenge of shooting the same thing for five straight days so I figured that it was time to go back to the boring gray bridge. I started out apologetic about this photo project but the more I get into it, the more proud I am of the results. Coincidentally, I am taking a short class at the Photography Center here in San Francisco and the instructor asked us to bring contact sheets along of projects we are working on. I took along my Street Parking and Boring Gray Bridge series. The former got an OK reception but the later got a very warm reaction that has reinforced my faith in this project.
So what did visiting the bridge for 5 days teach me?
First off, I am always fearful that when I visit the bridge I won't find anything new to shoot. This was especially true when I committed to post a picture each day even if this was just a self-imposed project. Remarkably, considering the banality of the subject, this has not happen to me yet. Every time I go I some how manage to find something new to shoot or a new approach to shoot something I've shot before. It can be as simple as a change in the light or weather, or a small detail or angle I've overlooked previously. That's not to say I am some remarkable photographer. No, I think anyone who calls themselves a photographer could do this and amaze themselves in the process. Choosing one subject to revisit and re-shoot over and over is turning out to be a much more powerful exercise in exploration and seeing than I ever imagined. It forces you to stretch and reach in ways I didn't realize that it would.
Second, just because a subject is dull and overlooked doesn't mean that it's not worth photographing. In fact, because it is obviously dull it makes you work harder to dig and find hidden, photographic potential. Some of the pictures I've made are pretty dramatic in a very graphic way that other photographers seem to respond to. What I'm noticing now is that a couple of my contacts on Flickr are berating me for calling the series "The Boring Gray Bridge". I try to explain to them that I am not being self-effacing and I don't think my images are boring, quite the opposite. I hope they are visually interesting, but that doesn't make the bridge itself any less of a bridge, or less gray, or any less unremarkable if you were just to drive over it. I'm trying to show what generations of photographers before me, from Paul Strand on forwards, have shown, often much more successfully than I can hope to achieve; that there is true beauty to be found in the most utilitarian of subjects.
Third, the more work I put into this set, the more ownership I find I am taking of both the project and the bridge itself. I used to be very dismissive of the project; "Oh that? That's just a photographic exercise." Now I'm proud to work on these images and don't just rush through them with two-minute photoshop treatments. It's funny that I now call the bridge, "my bridge" but I feel like I've looked at it harder than anyone else recently so now I am its temporary steward.
Forth, when the weather is nice I get lazy. I rely on the strength of the blue of the sky to provide drama. When the weather is overcast or raining I work harder to make the shot; the diffused light makes for less blatantly dramatic visuals but makes for pictures that are more about the bridge than they are about the sky. I'll never be able to resist the pull of a dramatic sky but I will try to focus more on the bridginess of the bridge rather than how concrete contrasts with a vivid blue.
Fifth - there are limits. Five days in a row are about as many as I can take of this subject. It got easier up until day four but day five was tough. I am interested to know what would happen if I pushed on through. Would I get a visual second-wind and find images I can't yet imagine or would I just start to repeat myself and destroy the project? Maybe I'll try and find out what happens later in the year but for now I'll limit myself to one visit a week to try to keep the project alive.
I assume this is a finite project; that, at some point, I will say "That's it. It's finished." It's going to be interesting finding out how close I am to that point. For now I've squeezed out 40 or so images; does the bridge have a hundred in it? Do I? I don't yet know but I do know how valuable this project has already been to me and recommend something similar to any photographer looking for an exercise.
What I like about Danny Goldfield's project is that he had an abstract idea for a project and then had to go out and buy a camera to bring the project to life. Let's not dwell on how amazing his portraits are considering how new he is to photography. What is great about the project is its hope and naivety (meant as praise and no way a criticism), and the beauty in a Utopian vision of a city's (and beyond that, the world's) inhabitants. Put me down for a copy of the book as soon as it's available!
Continuing my Picture-A-Day as a marathon metaphor, with today's image I have just completed mile two (the first month of pictures).
I'm still not going to pretend it's easy but I am starting to get into something of a stride. I'm letting go of the pressure to create a 'significant' image everyday. That's just too much stress. I don't think that I'm cheating, but if I am not in the mood to shoot, or it has got late, I am using the old fall-back of table top studio work and am shooting toys or my camera collection as a way to get through another PAD day and to keep to the project.
I've also found I'm pacing myself. Some lunchtimes I go for a walk and to bag that day's picture. If I find what I need in the first few minutes but later see something else visually interesting I may take a shot or two but I also mentally file away the location of the subject and the time of day and weather that will suit it best so that I can return on another, less target-rich day. Some of the images I have made are just blah but at least I made a picture that day. Of that, I am proud. I am also confident that with a bit of effort I can keep going a few more miles.
Escaping the metaphor and addressing real road races for a moment, I wish I was as confident about completing the actual half-marathon that I signed up for this coming Sunday. I haven't done nearly enough training miles to get a decent time so this race will just be a matter of survival for me and I will count anything under two hours a victory.
To anyone else competing in real or metaphorical races at the moment, good luck to you. The following are my PAD images for mile two (only 21 and a bit miles left to go!):
I'm trying to equate the Picture A Day (PAD) project I've embarked on with some other large project I've accomplished, like running a marathon. Actually, I've committed to running another one of those this year (it's been quite a while since my last one) but the race isn't until December so I have plenty of time to get injured before then.
A marathon is 26 and a bit miles (the bit can be the killer). This means that 1 marathon mile equates approximately to two weeks in PAD days. Wow - I've got a long way to go and I've only finished mile one! I wish I could say that it has been easy this far but that would be a lie. If a runner is hurting at mile one of a marathon then they are in a lot of trouble and a world of pain. Let's hope the marathon/photography metaphor isn't that accurate then.
On the plus side, I have managed to keep going this far without resorting to anything too desperate or cheating. I'm quite proud of some of the pictures although it is so much easier to do on those days when you've got nothing better to do than take pictures. On those days when you have to work, pickup groceries, exercise, empty the dish-washer, pay bills the end of the day can sneak up on you. Then it's a case of trying to find something close at hand that you can grab a shot of.
To anyone else trying a PAD project this year good luck. To anyone brave enough to admit they have resolutions for the New Year, particularly if they are photo related, all the very best to you too. Below, my first mile in pictures:
I've talked about my little project and the strange fixation I have with taking pictures of cars parked on the street here before so I won't go back over my motivations again, especially as they still are as confused as before. I did want to mention a little milestone I hit yesterday when I uploaded my 101st picture into the set (I try to use flickr sets as light boxes to work out a collection of pictures).
I had hoped to clear the century by New Years but real life got in the way. I am a little confused about the time line for this project; some pictures in the set date back to September of 2004 but I think I started to notice the theme and assemble the set on Flickr less than a year ago. If I can remain motivated and inspired enough, I will be disappointed if I haven't doubled the number in this set by the end of this year. I still don't know what I want to do with, or make of, them but I do enjoy their cumulative effect; each photograph individually is not that dramatic but when you see 101 with all their similarities and differences I think that the viewing experience is very different.
For the record, here is an approximate breakdown:
- Pickups: 19 (5 of which are red, most of which are rusty) - I don't even like pickups!
- RVs: 4
- VW bugs: 6
- Vans: 11 (I dislike vans more than pickups)
- Specific Vehicles Included more than once: 2 (I will get this down to 0 when I can decide which shot I like the most for each).
- Pictures of my own car: 1 (100 points if you know which one it is)
- Number of pictures which aren't side on with the car facing left: 8
As before, this project is not something to be taken very seriously or to be read into - it's just photographic doodling. Like doodling, it is fun and distracting, well, for the photographer least ways.
