365 Project

12-31-15

by 3 Comments

DSC09709_365-1_123115_SH

Day 365 –

I wanted to finish off this project in the same place I found my voice: the fields.  It seemed fitting.

What’s next?

Now that 365 is over for 2015, I have to be honest.  I don’t want it to be done.  Well, I do and I don’t.  I want a day off from shooting every so often.  I really need it.  But I don’t want 365 to be completely over.

On the good days of shooting, it can take several hours or all day.  When shooting in the fields, I can spend half a day driving around the dirt roads looking.  Yesterday’s photo came from driving half an hour south of Chicago, then roaming the neighborhood for an hour, and a half hour drive back.  Sort photos, work on a few that I really like (post processing, black and white conversation, editing), then post one.  All told, it was probably close to four hours to post the one 365 photo.

That isn’t a complaint at all.  I love doing it.  If I could spend all my days doing that, I would.  But right now, I can’t.  365 was a time consuming project.  Often, it consumed my time in the best way, and for that, I’m sad it’s ending.

At times, I would have to interrupt the day to go take a photo.  Those days, I would sometimes find something close, but often I wouldn’t find much at all.  The rush job was never very good.  Having the freedom and time to wander was essential to this process.  I’m hoping to not quite have as much down time this coming year.

So what is next? Some of it, I’m still figuring out.

365 as a shooting project is done, but I don’t want to end it completely. Instead, 365 will become a posting project. I’ll be posting a new photo every day, new things I shoot as well as some photos that didn’t make the daily cut for 365. It turns out there are a lot of those.

Rather than going out and shooting every day, I’ll shoot one to three times a week, and dedicate longer days to shooting, rather than an hour a day. Those long days of shooting are when I tend to bring back the better photos.

And if it turns out I want or need to go out and shoot every day again, I will.  Having the freedom to choose is a wonderful thing.

I have a few projects I want to do.

After reading James A. Reeves “The Road to Somewhere: An American Memoir,” I was inspired to do something similar. I’ve always wanted to do the Great American Road Trip / Finding America project. I’ve never had a medium that fit. Now I do. Since I travel all the time, the opportunity is right there. What a shame to waste it. There will be writing with most of those photos.

The working name is Some American Dream. It was originally Someone’s American Dream, but it sounded clunky, and had a few connotations I didn’t like. I’ll have a website for it soon.

There is also the Utah Project. Meg and I are talking about that, and hopefully I can do it this year. More on that in the future, when the possibility of it becomes more realistic.

I’ve been testing some printing lately.  The results have been interesting and fascinating.  Translating from the screen to paper is harder than I thought it would be.  From this experience, I hope to finally have enough fine-tuned material to finally have a print sale.

I’m also considering setting up a Patreon account. Patreon allows people to support creators by buying works as they come out, or with monthly contributions. I’ve been thinking of how to do this in a way that doesn’t exclude the stuff I put out on the website, and still provide something unique and special to those who want it. Getting out in the field and shooting costs money, or time when I could or should be making a living. It doesn’t cost a ton, but it does cost. I’d like to make it sustain itself, and make something more special for people who want to support that.

I also have to replace one lens and probably buy one more. I don’t want to, but I need to. But that can wait for a little bit.

This coming year, I want to work with the square aspect ratio some.  Learn what it can do.

I might even start taking pictures with people in them.  But let’s not get carried away.

365 is done for 2015, but it’s just the end of the chapter. The next chapter is going to look a little different.  Hopefully, even better.

A huge thanks goes to Meg, my girlfriend. I could not have done this without her.  I’m not understating to say that without her, this would never have happened.  Throughout the project, she took it more seriously than I did, and treated me like a professional and artist, whether I deserved it or not.

Thank you to all of you who have come along for the ride. It’s been a fun, frustrating and amazing journey. This month of photos is completely different than the first month. They hardly look like they were taken by the same person. The support and encouragement of all of you helped push me to keep going and to get better. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad you were here.

Let’s see what 2016 has to offer.

But tomorrow, I’m going to take a day off shooting.

12-30-15

by Leave a Comment

DSC09664_365-1_123015_SH_TON

Day 364 – Dixmoor, IL

There are a few reasons to do a 365 project.  One is to learn the craft.  Another is to build up a body of work.  The one that I got the most out of was finding my voice.

One of my favorite Merlin Mann quotes is “content is king, but voice is queen.”   I think he said it on the Back To Work podcast.  The point is that you can put out a ton of stuff online, but if you aren’t saying anything, then what is the point?  Having a voice, actually saying something, that makes the content valuable.

Through this project, I started to find my voice.  I started figuring out what I wanted to say.  When I started to develop a style, I wasn’t sure why I was shooting what I was shooting.  I knew I liked what I was shooting, but the reasons behind it hadn’t taken yet.  Why did I care about falling-down barns or burned out buildings, alleys and graffiti, homes that were falling down?  Why was I interested in places boarded up with plywood?  Was it nothing more than ruin porn?

It turns out that there is actually a reason behind it.  There is something to it that makes me want to seek out more, that puts some emotion and interest behind it.  Some of that is going to be collected in a new project, some of it will be a continuation of what I’ve been doing.

I’ve had cameras for years.  I had a 35mm film camera when digital was just becoming a market.  I’ve almost always had a digital camera of some sort (aside from the one on my phone) since 1998.  But this was the first year I’ve ever shot with intention.  And from that intention, I finally figured out what I wanted to say with it.

For the most part, I think it’s come though.  I have more to go, so I’m not ready to write an “artist’s statement” here. I’m not ready to explicitly state it.  But it’s coming.

Tomorrow is the last 365 photo for 2015.  I’ll talk about what is next then.

12-29-15

by 4 Comments

DSC09563_365_122915_DxOVP

Day 363 –

When I started this project, I wasn’t really being a photographer.  I was taking pictures, sure, but it wasn’t really being a photographer.  I was doing things I thought might look neat.  I was getting pictures that were fine.  There were things I was proud of, things I thought were nice photos, but I had so much to learn.  The first month of this site looks nothing like the last month.

What I really learned was what my job is as a photographer.  My job is to take the feeling about something I see or am around and create a photo that expresses that.  Sometimes it’s sadness, sometimes it’s wonder, occasionally it’s a story that’s interesting.  The best photos I’ve made are the ones where I felt something about what I was shooting, and then tried to refine that feeling into that image.

Sometimes I succeeded.  Sometimes I did not.  Sometimes I didn’t even try.  Those are the worst photos on this site, the ones where I felt rushed, where I didn’t have time, where I didn’t go looking with any feeling involved.  I can tell those photos from the rest.  I bet you can too.  Anyone can be a photographer, if they tune in to what they are feeling and work to translate that to the image.  To me, that’s the difference between a photographer and someone who just takes pictures.  It isn’t the gear, it’s what you do with it.

What have I learned.  I learned things like composition.  I learned about light and contrast.  I learned what the settings on the camera do, and what will happen to the image when I change those settings.  I learned how to apply that knowledge to the image.  I learned how to manipulate the photo in software.  And I’m still learning more about all those things.

But what I really learned was to go with what I feel.  If I feel anything about what I’m shooting, I am going to have a better shot at getting a good picture.  Even a bad picture driven by feeling is better than a decent picture that isn’t.  When I think and feel about what I’m shooting, the results simply are better.  I had to learn to trust that.

I learned how to be a photographer.  I wasn’t really comfortable calling myself a photographer until this week.  A few things I made and posted recently made me finally flip that switch.  It took a year, but I’m a photographer.

I didn’t always do a good job, but I learned how to do a better job, and that was part of the point.

12-28-15

by Leave a Comment

DSC09510_365-1_HDR_122815

Day 362 –

Please welcome the first square photo to 365.  I usually don’t care for the square size.  Almost everything here is a 3:2, which is what my camera shoots.  The standard size you often see for photos is a 5:4, which is an 8×10.  Some cameras shoot 4:3, which is what my old point and shoot cameras shot.

The truth is that I’m not used to shooting in a square aspect ratio.  I like some things I see in it.  It looks nice, but I don’t shoot it.  If my camera shot had a setting to shoot in a square, I probably would do it more often.  So I’m going to make an effort to do it more often.  At least I will know if I actually like it or not, as opposed to being something I don’t like because I never gave it a shot.

Three more shots after this.  I’m going to write about the experience some over the next few days.  Then talk about what’s next.  Thanks for hanging with me on this project.  It’s been quite a journey.

12-26-15

by Leave a Comment

710_1865_365_HDR_122615

Day 360 –

Around here, you have two options for coffee, donut shop or gas station.  I opt for donut.

I’m a bit of a coffee snob.  I like it strong with a tiny bit of cream.  I’ve learned to speak the language.  “Dark roast, half cream.”  It’s as close as I’m going to get.  Confidence is not high.

Back in the car, I take a sip.  I look at it.  It’s a coffee milkshake.  Half cream must have meant half the cow.

I look back at the donut shop, contemplating going back for something stronger.

————–

“A little boy and little girl died in the fire.”

I look at the woman behind the counter at the drug store.  “What fire?”

She points across the street.  “Over there.  Happened this morning.”  I can just make out a house with a burned roof.  I’ve seen a lot of those – caved in roofs, aftermaths of fires – but usually not in a city.  Mostly out in the fields.  Barns, sheds, and sometimes houses.

She says something about the door banging when customers leave the store.  It makes her jump.  My mind is already outside.  I follow it and can see a little more.  The smell is faint, but it’s there.

Around the block, the smell is stronger.  Not like a campfire, more sickly, sweeter, worse.  Furniture and dry wall, wood and plastic, everything a house holds.  It will stick around this neighborhood for quite a while.  People will catch a whiff and remember.  There is still charred wood in the street.  The drizzle and rain makes everything worse.

The woman at the drug store was wrong.  One child, a seven-year-old girl, died.  Four injured.

A neighbor walks their dog in the back yard next door.

————–

The coffee.  I take another sip.  It’s hot.  Too milky.  Weak.  Awful.

It’s perfect.  I’m lucky to have it.

————–

News report about the fire here.