Dear friend,
Right now is your chance and opportunity to pursue your own passion photography project. Some thoughts:
First sent on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER. Sample email here.
First of all, there is no right or wrong way to do a photo project. My suggestion:
Only work on a project that you personally care for and love.
The problem with photography is this:
Too many photographers are hungry for external legitimacy, and they see working on a ‘serious’ photography project as a road to achieving that external validation.
I can personally attest to this line of thinking, because I was a victim. I wanted to go beyond just being a ‘social media’ photographer, and wanted people to take me seriously.
But the problem:
The more I tried to become a ‘serious’ photographer and gain the admiration of other ‘serious’ photographers, I lost a bit of my original joy for photography.
A project is … what?
To project is a verb. To propel or throw something forward. Thus my theory:
A photography project is a projection of the future ; what you want to photograph in the future.
This is tricky —
How are you to know what your future preferences will be in photographing?
Ideas:
- Make your photography project geo-spatial. This means photograph your own apartment, your own square block, your own city, your own country, or maybe your entire planet.
- Focus on a certain type of subject matter. For example, photograph only men in SUITS. Or photograph only selfies of yourself. Or only photograph photographs of your loved ones (#cindyproject).
- Time-boxing your project: For example a COVID 19 photo project. All of us are experiencing covid in one way or another. And at this point … all perspectives are interesting.
Your project is constantly changing and in flux
A project is never done until your death.
This is the great thing with websites. You can constantly add to it, remove from it, and re-arrange it. This is what makes it so fun!
So start your project today. Simple suggestions:
- Take a look back at some of your old photos, from last year, the year before, etc. Then think to yourself: “Which photos of which I have shot in the past still have personal significance to me?” To know, just follow your gut. If your photos spark joy in your eyes, it is good.
- Based on what photos you picked, then pursue shooting more of those types of photos.
- Do a photographic barbell: Keep shooting NEW photos of today (pursue your own covid 19 photo project), and also keep editing and selecting your old meaningful photos. Share your stream and progress to your website and blog.
Share your best photo project photos to ARS
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Motivational photo quotes
“At the age of 90, I still am hungry for more.” – Andre Kertesz
“The maximum is what I am interested in.” – Josef Koudelka
“All photos are accurate; none of them are truth.” – Richard Avedon
“Shoot yourself!” – Bruce Gilden