by Judy
This past Christmas I received the book, Humans of New York. I had seen and read so much about this book and I was really intrigued. Photographer Brandon Stanton created a project for himself of photographing the people of New York City - he calls it a photographic census of New York.
His photos are stunning, and very interesting, and he includes wonderful quotes or short stories about his subjects. After reading his book, and following Humans of New York on Facebook, I was drawn to the idea of creating a photographic project of my own.
I knew it should be a long term project, since I needed time to pull together a good collection of my subject. I've given myself a whole year, but I'm also allowing myself flexibility with it. If I'm happy with my collection before a year is up, I give myself permission to stop. If I begin to find my subject tiring, I give myself permission to move onto a different subject, of which I have many ideas! I not only want this to be challenging for me, I want to have fun while I'm doing it.
Taking on a photography project is a great way to ensure that you've always got something to concentrate on, something to search for, and to photograph. We all know that the more we shoot, the better we get. Having a photography project will "force" you to shoot more often and will naturally improve your photography. I'm hoping that as my project moves along I find fun, creative ways to capture my subject.
In trying to come up with a subject for my project I thought of those things I'm always drawn to - no matter where I am. One of my first thoughts was mailboxes. I love seeing charming mailboxes, wildflowers growing along side. Rusty, shiny, old, new - it doesn't matter. I love mailboxes. But then I thought about actually trying to photograph mailboxes wherever I went. I wasn't sure I'd be able to successfully, and artfully, photograph mailboxes without the homeowners being concerned about what I'm doing. Then came the problem of safely stopping, or pulling over for photographing mailboxes. I live in a very busy area. Much of the time, safety would be an issue. Nope. No matter how much I love them, and will continue to photograph them whenever I'm able to, I knew my project couldn't be mailboxes.
As you've probably guessed by now, my year long photo project will be benches...of any kind, old or new, photographed wherever I may go. In the few short weeks since I decided on my subject matter it's really opened my eyes. But it's not enough that I see benches everywhere. I try to be creative in how I capture their beauty. I'm hoping this project will continually challenge me to be more creative and to look for different ways to photograph 'the bench.'
What do you like to photograph? What are you always drawn to? Are you up for a photography project? Will you join me? Short term or long term. Whatever subject you chose. What a great way to improve your photography and your creative eye, and have fun while you're doing it!
14 comments:
Hey Judy! Benches are one of my favorite subjects too.These images are beautiful and creative. I love the depth of focus on the one with the man. I have a project too -mantles. I'm interested in how they express the homeowners personality. It will take a while because I either have to ask people and have my gear there when I see them, or plan to go back. But I find that when I'm traveling the guest houses always have interesting ones.
As you said, it's fun to keep it in the back of your mind, and to play with the idea..it opens your eyes.have fun with your idea, and keep showing us!
I love your benches and I love benches, too. The DoF in the last one, as Carol says, is fabulous. But, oh! The color in the uptop photo ... LOVE! I've always loved church steeples. One of my life list items {I dislike 'bucket' list} is to take a road trip through New England and photograph church steeples, they have such beautiful ones there. I can't wait to see your finished collection!! And this is a great idea, too, to keep our eyes fresh.
This is a very cool idea, and i went back and like that Humans of New york project. I will look forward to seeing many of your creative bench shots and may work on thinking of a project of my own. very inspiring!
I love this idea!!! That last photo- so perfect and painterly! I am working on two projects right now- photos of the downtown of my NEW hometown in Arizona and a mini-project of a local mountain from different angles. Those should wrap up in a few months- your bench idea inspires me! Chairs, windows, mailboxes- what could it be???
Love the idea of a photo project! I completely agree that the more we shoot the more we improve and having something in mind to always be looking for will get us shooting more. I love old doors and windows but don't see them a lot. When I go down into the barrio area of Tucson, I could spend the day shooting nothing but doors and windows! But I would agree that some things are just to hard to shoot on a regular basis, like your mailboxes. I've also done a month long project of shooting cactus blooms but I want to find something that could last longer, like a year. Your photos are just amazingly beautiful! Looking forward to seeing all the benches you capture!
Oh I have a lot of things that have been projects like this, doors, windows and sidewalks in Galveston are some of my favorites, and even though I don't photograph people very often, I have been mulling some things in my mind that I have seen come up in my photos. There is a statue at my favorite nursery (that no one can by or I will be very sad) that I photograph everytime I'm there and I use an occasional prop! And then I have my monarchs that I've been photographing for over a year now. Your images are great, love the vibrancy and shadow in the first one (oh yeah, shadows I do love shadows) and that last one is so dreamy! I love having projects to keep my focused...great post Judy!
Hmm, what a great idea. There are so many things that I love to photograph that I may have trouble deciding on one subject, but narrowing it down to one certainly would help in the focusing issue that I seem to lack. And I agree with everyone, that last shot is undeniably brilliant!!
Great photos!
I like your idea, of something to focus (pun intended) on. I like to photograph birds and flowers...plants in general. That's pretty broad. Might need to narrow it down to just a few.
This is a wonderful idea Judy! And so timely too. After I was at the beach earlier this week, one of my favorite places on earth and took the shot of the snow fence with the water in the background. I definitely thought it would be fun to do more water/beach shots this year. I could aim for one shot per week to be realistic. Maybe title the project Near the Water or Beside the Water...hmmm...I will need to think on this now.
Great reminder Judy! I took a class at BPC last summer called The Phone Photography Project and @jofabi (many of you know her from our previous BPC photography classes) was one of the teachers. Her challenge for the class was to create a series of photos and I remember writing down several ideas at the time. I need to go find that list and get to work! @jofabi's series of photos were of cats from her Italy and Greece travels, vintage Fiat cars, and photos from her trip to California. She pulled some of the photos into collages and used the same Instagram filter to give the photos a similar look. She suggested trying a series of your favorite things, favorite country, favorite color, etc.
Such a great idea to work on a project whether it's for a whole year or the summer or whatever. I'll have to check out the book Judy mentions too. Looking forward to being inspired by you all as usual. Thanks so much for being here and inspiring us all!
Check out this professional photographer who has committed to photograph the same tree for a year with his iPhone:
http://thephotobrigade.com/2012/08/that-tree-by-mark-hirsch/
He was featured on CBS Sunday Morning (TV show) last summer while I was taking the phone photography class!
oh my goodness judy...what a brilliant idea. i love it! these shots are just beautiful and i can't wait to see how your project unfolds!
I have always loved to take pictures of benches! You can find such unusual benches in such beautiful places! I love these and how you already found a variety of ways to photograph them! Looking forward to seeing more! I'll be finishing a project in June of my feet and where I stand, that I started on my 60th birthday. It will be fun to look over all the places I've been this year. I'm thinking on some new ideas for a new project.
Adore your last photo! Wow! So unique and captured beautifully! Great idea on doing this project! xo's!
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