I understand that people take on a 365 for varied reasons, my 1st 365 was to get me back to making images more regularly, to push myself, get out of my comfort zone and to learn. I'm still not entirely sure what my 365 was about, which probably why I wasn't pleased with the project.
This year's project, was to give me a space to explore "my" photography. To explain, my daughter is a keen (and talented) equestrian. She has a horse, which takes a lot of not only her time but also mine - don't get me wrong, I'm delighted that I get to spend so much time with my daughter. So much of my "free" time is spent around stables, horses, horse shows. Over the past number of years I found that most of the time I only had a camera in my hand when I was around horses and so the vast majority of my images were in some way horse related. I've become known as somebody who's good at equine photographer and I'm often asked to photograph riders & their steeds at shows. I don't often admit to being good at something, but I guess I am good at equine photography. However, I felt I was in a rut and a comfort zone that I didn't really want to be in.
And so, this year's 366 was born. To get me out of a comfort zone, to get back to making images that don't involve horses (yes, there's a few horse photos in the project, there might be more, but you do things for your children). To challenge myself.
When I started the project, I made the decision to get back to basics, simplify things. Simplification can also cause complication - I decide only to use my DSLR with one lens for the project, this means I can use any other camera, can't see something and use my the camera on my phone. I've also made some images I like, but they don't "qualify" for my project as the "wrong" lens was on the camera.
In none of my projects have I followed themes set by others, I have no issue with people who do, it's just not for me. I prefer to allow my project be more dynamic and if something strikes me it might become a mini-series. I did that with what a series I called "Recessionary Times" and also a series environmental portraits.
This year, towards the end of January I did a low key shot in my kitchen which has evolved into a series I'm called "Kitchen in the dark". I've been very pleased with a number of the images, I'm enjoying making the images. I've settled into a workflow for the shots, which invloves a simple set up. I can now get an acceptable image with 2-3 shots. It's comfortable. It's become a new comfort zone. Getting the daily image has become less challenging. But I like the images. Right now I'm torn, I'm enjoying the low key work, but feel I'm cheating myself by continuing the series.
So I'm wondering, for those who are doing a 365 to challenge themselves & get out of their comfort zone, have you found new comfort zones that lessen the challenge? How much of the project is about the making of the image & how much is about the final image? If you are happy with the final image but not challenged by the making of it, does it lessen the success of the project?
To answer your last question, "No." I'll use whatever tools I have to make shooting enjoyable and to make the job easier and more successful. And after the shooting as well. But good luck to you on your approach.
Hello! I think the questions you're asking are quite personal to each of us. My own answers have changed as I've done the project and as my own life changes as well. I enjoy the challenges on here and stepping out of my own comfort zone (images of people, especially my kids) to take photos I wouldn't normally take. I think I learn a lot and grow with the challenges.
you are overthinking it, let your creativity breathe. . i can recommend the get-pushed challenge. i did that for nearly two years and came out with things i never would have thought even to try.
Like Frank @frankhymus I enjoy exploring all that the camera and that processing tools allow. There are times I'll have a theme for myself but after awhile, the narrowness gets to me and I get bored. But as Tracy @tracys said, it's all about what you want to do to grow -- so a personal decision, really. And as such, one that you can easily stick with or decide to abandon for another choice anywhere along the way.
I agree with @kali66 - for me, it sounds like "overthinking" the project.
I used to spend much more time contemplating the photo of the day when I just started the project. Now, most of the time it "presents" itself during the day - something that strikes my attention suddenly, be it because of the color, the combination of items, or something about my kids that I want to capture for the future. One time, I described it to someone that for me, participation in 365 is more of a "daily treasure hunt" in photography. Being so unpredictable, it challenges me in many ways, as it is always not known what particular thing I will be photographing that day. Often, I don't know enough, but read on the issue later after already having done the picture "intuitively" and often seeing my own mistakes afterwards.
I also do participate in some challenges - the 52-week challenge, where you take a picture based on the prompt once a week, a get-pushed- challenge... I like that although there is a prompt, you can always interpret it the way you want to see it, so I don't find it restricting the creativity at all.
Basically, as long as there is still fun for me to pick up the camera and do the photo, it would work for me.
Sometimes, I'll take a quick easy shot and it will be my favorite picture of the week. Sometimes, I spend a lot of time working on a photo and never really like the end product. So, for me, it's the end product.
But, I still like to challenge myself and learn new techniques. I love all the challenges here on 365. The Get Pushed challenge is my favorite, but it's getting harder to find an original challenge since I've done it so long. The tag challenge is great, as is the technique challenge. Currently doing a color/rainbow challenge. Anything that will make you think outside your box is good.
But, in the end, did you enjoy it? Did the picture turn out well?
I don't believe in overthinking anything. I was trying to explore how it can sometimes be that we set out to change what we do, what tools we use etc to get out of a comfort zone. But in doing so we can often find new comfort zones. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
I'm sure the challenges here are good & it's great that people enjoy them. As I mentioned, following a theme set by somebody else isn't for me, similarly challenges set by somebody else are for me either.
I see it as a more fluid challenge. I was like you in that the majority of my photos (before my project) were of my kids playing their sports. I'm good at that! Like you don't like to "toot my own horn" but it was my comfort zone. My kids are growing up so last year I decided to do this project to explore other types of photography. The project for me started as a way to get me to use my camera every day, which in turn has made me a better photographer overall. As got more comfortable with a technique or my camera I changed the focus of my project to continue pushing myself to become better. And I have. I haven't shot many sports photos lately and I was looking at some old ones the other day and found myself thinking "I thought that was good?" Always improving, always challenging....always fluid. Just my 2 cents!
A great post David. Like @tracys my answers change too - sometimes daily, sometime over a much longer time period. One of the strengths of this site is that we all do have very different personal goals for our projects. My 'actual' 365 started in 2011 and it was generally about the finished image through learning how my camera worked & trying lots of different photographic techniques. However I also posted diary entries of family events where they were important to me, and even photos that totally 'failed' but taught me a great deal!
I am not sure that mastering a technique/situation of shooting (eg low key/equine) means the end of being challenged, even though in the first few years I would chose to 'move on' to the next genre/technique for that very reason. I wanted to learn as much as possible, and there is so much to learn. My goals now are becoming more personal and are driven by my 'photographic journey' where I aim to explore the areas that really interest me. I have recently been posting a 'series' for the first time, but I challenge myself to build on my ability with each one. If you like the kitchen images you are doing, that is what counts. Perhaps it is about finding a way to be more challenged - use just a phone for lighting/ use ICM/ create a story/ portray an emotion/ interaction between objects/ minimalism...
At the equine events you can still find many other genres to shoot such as abstract (ie non-horse) shots where form and shape tell a story; experiential photography; fineart; macro etc .. low key equine shots?
365 is confronting when we see so many wonderful exotic images from around the world in a single day - our lives can feel mundane when we look at the same things day after day, even though they are themselves 'exotic' to many others.
What is 'challenging' is different for us all, depending on where we are on our photographic journey. The get-pushed challenge is a great way to approach different approaches/genres and you can adapt it to a single camera/lens combination.
For me, the trick is to have a constantly expanding comfort zone with the eventual aim that I become comfortable with whatever life throws my way. This fits my approach to photography which is not to specialise and just record the beauty of everyday life. One day it will be a landscape the next a gritty street scene, an intimate portrait or maybe a wildlife shot. This means that for me, every shot is a new challenge and a new learning experience.
I do enter the odd challenge now and then but only if I happen to have taken a shot that fits into a current challenge or theme. The only rule or restriction I ever impose on myself is "Never, ever leave home without a camera".
So I guess what I'm trying to say, is that there is nothing wrong with having a comfort zone, as long as it isn't a tiny narrow little niche that you cling to with your finger nails. As long as it's a big and flexible comfort zone........ don't worry, be happy. :)
I'm new to this (2 months), I am being pushed by the challenge of having to come up with a halfway decent shot daily. Because I get bored taking the same subjects, I find that I get out more to find different subjects.
That expands my horizons and comfort zones. New challenges for me include street photography. Also, I am challenging myself to a B&W shot each day which makes me look at my world differently- such as looking for contrast, lines shapes etc instead of just vibrant color which I love.
So, I guess what I am trying to say :) is comfort zones almost have to be expanded just by the fact that one gets tired of taking the same types of shots daily.
For me, It is about both the making of the image AND the final image (more the final image). The final image that reflects what you wanted it to gets easier to come by with daily practice.
Have fun
I agree with @kali66 and @vera365 - overthinking - just enjoy the taking of the photos and let the creativity lead you - experiment explore and join in with the challenges and techniques that interest you
I'm not overthinking, I was trying to have a discussion about how following the flow (creativity) can lead one to new comfort zones. I've said I've no interest in themes or challenges set by others, that's just not for me. I let my flow be dynamic, for me doing a theme or challenge set by somebody else interrupts the flow.
I've always done my own thing with photography, pretty much marched to the sound of my own drum. I've tried a couple of clubs, but didn't enjoy them.
what is funny is that I shoot film very differently than I shoot digitally. After four years of weekly darkroom and two years of 365 I have found that I really do not have a "style" or genre that I dominate over another. I have spent time on projects trying to create a story or theme that could be considered a cohesive collection, but I was finding it limiting, boring, and unchallenging. So with the majority of film I tend to do more on travels and shoot what appeals to me as black and white. It tends to lean towards architecture and landscape but I may have a collection of six incredible images versus 30 perfectly fine shots over the month. So with that I spend most of my time in film on the darkroom and not what the shot evoked in the moment. My instructor gave me a huge compliment that saying while I am one of the few he has seen that has not developed a style after four years I create the photos that would be in the Kodak guides for composition, balance, contrast, and focus. So at that moment, I realized that it was okay to not be limited by a style, but to be a technician that sees the image in black and white and perfects it in post processing.
So in that long ramble you are not overthinking at all, but you are finding what you like and what pushes you. Some people are extroverts in their life but introspective in their creation of art. I personally am not one to limit myself to one camera or one lens, but if that is what pushes you than just you be you.
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I used to spend much more time contemplating the photo of the day when I just started the project. Now, most of the time it "presents" itself during the day - something that strikes my attention suddenly, be it because of the color, the combination of items, or something about my kids that I want to capture for the future. One time, I described it to someone that for me, participation in 365 is more of a "daily treasure hunt" in photography. Being so unpredictable, it challenges me in many ways, as it is always not known what particular thing I will be photographing that day. Often, I don't know enough, but read on the issue later after already having done the picture "intuitively" and often seeing my own mistakes afterwards.
I also do participate in some challenges - the 52-week challenge, where you take a picture based on the prompt once a week, a get-pushed- challenge... I like that although there is a prompt, you can always interpret it the way you want to see it, so I don't find it restricting the creativity at all.
Basically, as long as there is still fun for me to pick up the camera and do the photo, it would work for me.
But, I still like to challenge myself and learn new techniques. I love all the challenges here on 365. The Get Pushed challenge is my favorite, but it's getting harder to find an original challenge since I've done it so long. The tag challenge is great, as is the technique challenge. Currently doing a color/rainbow challenge. Anything that will make you think outside your box is good.
But, in the end, did you enjoy it? Did the picture turn out well?
I'm sure the challenges here are good & it's great that people enjoy them. As I mentioned, following a theme set by somebody else isn't for me, similarly challenges set by somebody else are for me either.
I guess I was just thinking out loud
I am not sure that mastering a technique/situation of shooting (eg low key/equine) means the end of being challenged, even though in the first few years I would chose to 'move on' to the next genre/technique for that very reason. I wanted to learn as much as possible, and there is so much to learn. My goals now are becoming more personal and are driven by my 'photographic journey' where I aim to explore the areas that really interest me. I have recently been posting a 'series' for the first time, but I challenge myself to build on my ability with each one. If you like the kitchen images you are doing, that is what counts. Perhaps it is about finding a way to be more challenged - use just a phone for lighting/ use ICM/ create a story/ portray an emotion/ interaction between objects/ minimalism...
At the equine events you can still find many other genres to shoot such as abstract (ie non-horse) shots where form and shape tell a story; experiential photography; fineart; macro etc .. low key equine shots?
365 is confronting when we see so many wonderful exotic images from around the world in a single day - our lives can feel mundane when we look at the same things day after day, even though they are themselves 'exotic' to many others.
What is 'challenging' is different for us all, depending on where we are on our photographic journey. The get-pushed challenge is a great way to approach different approaches/genres and you can adapt it to a single camera/lens combination.
I do enter the odd challenge now and then but only if I happen to have taken a shot that fits into a current challenge or theme. The only rule or restriction I ever impose on myself is "Never, ever leave home without a camera".
So I guess what I'm trying to say, is that there is nothing wrong with having a comfort zone, as long as it isn't a tiny narrow little niche that you cling to with your finger nails. As long as it's a big and flexible comfort zone........ don't worry, be happy. :)
That expands my horizons and comfort zones. New challenges for me include street photography. Also, I am challenging myself to a B&W shot each day which makes me look at my world differently- such as looking for contrast, lines shapes etc instead of just vibrant color which I love.
So, I guess what I am trying to say :) is comfort zones almost have to be expanded just by the fact that one gets tired of taking the same types of shots daily.
For me, It is about both the making of the image AND the final image (more the final image). The final image that reflects what you wanted it to gets easier to come by with daily practice.
Have fun
I've always done my own thing with photography, pretty much marched to the sound of my own drum. I've tried a couple of clubs, but didn't enjoy them.
So in that long ramble you are not overthinking at all, but you are finding what you like and what pushes you. Some people are extroverts in their life but introspective in their creation of art. I personally am not one to limit myself to one camera or one lens, but if that is what pushes you than just you be you.