To continue or not to continue…?
That was the question and I had pretty much made my mind up. I wouldn’t be doing it again in 2012. My 2011 approach was taking considerable time. It would be nice to take a break. I’d be free. But there was something nagging in my gut, it was almost like I had to continue. I felt like I’d learned so much, I was hungry for more. What to do? How to satisfy some of that hunger, but to do in a way that would free me up from the same time commitment? Was there a way?
The Past (2011) Approach
I approached 2011 with a specific objective; each and every day make a ‘real’ photo. ‘Real? Shoot RAW with my DSLR, develop, publish. Here are the results.
In reality there were a several compact camera days and one or two where I used my mobile phone camera due to logistical issues. Yes, I even bought a new workbag so I could carry my DSLR and laptop every single day. My Canon 5D MKII is exhibiting some surface wear and sporting a smattering of duct tape. I’m rather proud of it’s battle scars.
What have other people done?
I wanted to give a shout out to @jenniferlagarde for her 365 Project efforts and great dialog with my in her blog regarding continuing for another year. She has an eye for the abstract and surreal, some really fun photos. Her blog here talks very eloquently about how it developed her eye as a photographer. I agree whole heartedly…
…that after all was my intention.
My methodical approach did leave a week, sometimes two and at one point over a month between publishing. I learned to live with this. I eliminated photo spam by first moving from blogging each photo to grids of lapsed photos and eventually just the most recent. This was fine, again I was focusing on developing my craft, my art.
Could I keep growing, reduce the time commitment and perhaps even be more dynamic and current. Could I even share more?
The Future (2012) Opportunity
Thanks to all for the great dialog on Twitter around #365Project.
So what next?
A great inspiration for me is @jawsnap who is on his, I think 3rd, 365 Project. He is a superb photographer with a great eye and some awesome strobe skills. Go back through his archives and see how his eye has developed – it’s something to aspire to. He and others helped me decide.
So, why not continue?
Quite frankly just the time to sift through and develop RAW photos. I was making allot of photos. Almost 20,000 photos in 2011. That’s ~55 a day. Granted most were far from masterpieces but it still resulted in a considerable time commitment.
What would your solution for this project be in 2012?
So here is my decision; I shall continue! But it needs to be in a different, a new, an evolved way.
Here’s what I’m going to do.
- Shoot daily. Continue to develop my craft.
- Primary tool; Phone Camera. DSLR? Yes, less is more. Make its use count.
- Publish daily (easy from smart phones) at the end of the day.
The intended result; force the development of my eye even further. The low tech will drive this particularly with lighting and composition. Achieve a lessened time commitment in processing reams of daily photos. Plus, I *always* have my phone camera on me (ala Chase Jarvis – by mine is a Windows Phone 7). Spend more time developing real gems. Get at least one photo a day and also hopeful surface some real keepers. Shoot a little bit less with a DSLR and really make it count, and on some days shoot, process, publish from it. The time I get back, when invested in photography, can then be focused on non-day-bound assorted daily photos. Share more, connect more, with other photographers online.
Again this approach is for this project. By forcing the use of my phone for the project I’m breaking the bondage of heavy duty RAW processing the larger number of photos I experienced in 2011. It doesn’t mean I won’t use my DSLR for some dailies. I certainly will. I will also use it for other events, other projects, and I’m currently even planning on a casual assortment of dailies that are not time bound to the 365 Project.
And so it begins.
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That’s a cool picture! I like the idea of keeping the 365 project low tech. I’m doing it this year also with the goal of learning better how to use my DSLR. I’m resolved, though, that some days I will use my phone and that’s okay (I especially feel that way after reading your post!). You may have interest in this post I wrote on using Dropbox and getting pictures off your DSLR without hooking up to your computer (it is helping me with the daily posting) http://is.gd/Fa2jRL. (I’m not spam & I’m not trying for blatant self promotion, I just think you might like it).
Thank you – looking forwards to reading your post. I love a good geek out around photography, isn’t that half the fun of being ‘into’ DSLRs? 🙂 Your point about learning your DSLR is a very good one. Oh boy! You will really learn your DSLR. It got to the point, in about May where I felt it was becoming an extension of me. Just knowing what settings would work best for what I was doing and what effect I wanted to get. I still remember the polo match I was at and being so happy with the power to create a blurred background by having the shutter open for longer and tracking the horse/rider with my 70-200. Fun! Now that’s not something you’d get with the camera phone but it will force other learnings… composition, lighting. And as I’m discovering explicitly now the naturally wider aperture combined with macro getting in close more often. I mean I have 100mm Macro for my DSLR but that gives a wildly different affect vs. something like yesterday’s photo https://fluidpixelproductions.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/trontastic-daily/
All the best!
I have a LOT to learn.
don’t worry, we all do 🙂