happy mother’s day, mom!! i love you very much!!
say nice things
some days just have awesome light. there are lots of days where you’d think you would have good light, but it’s just kind of flat. then there are other days where the forecast is the same but the light is somehow much better. today was one of those days. and since i didn’t have any shoots today, i decided to use the light to my advantage and take what is known as the stereotypical project 365 headshot-style self-portrait. :) one of these usually ends up in a 365 photo blog at least once…mainly due to awesome light, no shoots that day, and a lack of motivation to move outside your house at the moment.
so a 365 photo blog can be photographs of anything. however, there are lots of photographers that do 365 blogs exclusively on self-portraits. that’s a picture of yourself every day for 365 days. let me say that i have seen some of the most creative stuff from these photogs…because geez, that’s a lot of pictures of yourself. i don’t think i’d particularly want people to see me everyday since i basically spend my time sitting around in my where the wild things are pajamas when i’m not out in public. :)
in other news, going to the designers downtown market on saturday with my friend kate and shooting a lot there. should have some good stuff this weekend. hopefully the weather holds out.
also took a portrait of my shoes…because i love them.
today i am starting a 365 photo blog inside my regular CSP blog. so what’s a 365 photo blog?
a 365 photo blog is a blog where photographers, professional and amateur alike, post a photograph every day for 365 days. it can be of anything – there are no rules regarding content except for anything that’s self-imposed. the only rule is that the photographer must take a photograph every day and post it to their blog.
so what’s the point?
this is an incredibly good exercise for all photographers for the following reason:
1. over time, it improves your photography skills considerably and in an overall manner. you learn flexibility and efficiency while handling the camera, fluent manipulation of camera settings, immediate and correct response to any sort of lighting situation, and more intimate knowledge of the way your camera reacts to certain settings.
2. it jumpstarts creativity and refines personal style. although there are no rules on what you’d like your photograph to be of, it’s helpful to imagine a specific scene in your mind and try to recreate it through your lens. this exercise helps immensely with being able to verbalize posing and position models during shoots according to the vision in your head.
3. a year is a long time to take a photograph every day. after a while you wonder what there is left to take a picture of. however, this exercise helps you look at the same objects in different ways. this comes in handy when photographing weddings so that they all have a unique flair.
as you can see, it is very handy for photographers. it’s also interesting to the readers of a blog and their clients. people can see how you take every day objects in different situations and in different lighting scenarios and make them interesting. it also helps clients see a general sense of your photography style.
so why not just take a photograph and call it a day? posting it on your blog holds you accountable. sure, you might take photographs every day, but after a while professional photographers get bogged down and get “shooter’s block”. they start going through the motions, repeating the same poses, and stop trying to think outside the box. they also become complacent with lighting conditions and photography skills. this blog not only pushes the boundaries of subjects and scenery, but it forces you to strive for the highest quality and most creative image you can achieve because you are accountable to your blog readers.
i attempted to post every day to my blog in the past, but it just doesn’t work. i get busy – very busy – and stop posting. this forces me to post every day.
and what’s perhaps more important than anything is that this allows a very creative outlet for me. i shoot almost entirely weddings and people, but this is not where i started from. i originally started in my teens taking photographs of city skylines and landscapes accompanied by a heavy interest in macro photography. since my business takes up a majority of my time traveling, shooting, editing, creating coffee table books, etc, i don’t have time any more for my original love of taking photographs of just plain random stuff. this will allow me to take photographs of anything and an excuse to post it. :)
PLEASE feel free to leave comments, post suggestions, ideas, or challenges. it’s going to be an interesting ride!
so now for entry 1/365, an out-of-focus me…slightly representative of the fact that i am beginning a new adventure to mold and “focus” my skills for the 365 challenge. :)
