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.