jenny portrait

2013 PERSONAL PROJECT RESOLUTIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE

Last year I made three project resolutions and I wanted to look back and see how they turned out. Below I revisit the original prompt and describe the final result:

1. Monthly page challenge

image

image

image

image

Prompt: Make sure you bring your camera with you throughout the month to special events and various outings. At the end of the month, pick the best pictures and post as a photo cluster.

Result: In the end this became more of an exploration of phone photography. What camera do I carry everywhere? My phone! So using instagram I was able to upload my monthly adventures.

It wasn’t until vsco created and released their vscocam that I felt like phone photography was brought to the next level. I even wrote a review about it.

Making it a monthly post gave me an opportunity to curate my images, which ended up being more a reflection on the colors, textures, and explorations that I felt represented the month as a whole.

This project is one I will continue in 2014.

2. Go on a photographic journey

image

image

image

image

Prompt: Plan a weekend vacation, or even a day trip, around where you can go take great photographs. A pasture filled with cows? Excellent. A hiking trip up a mountain, with beautiful city views? Even better. An old-school diner with handmade milkshakes? Spectacular.

Result: From The Academy of Natural Sciences through Ralph Stover Park all the way to Napa Valley then on a rural Pennsylvania hike and finally at the Beach after a Fall storm I brought my camera to make sure I kept myself in the habit of photographing the adventures and explorations of the world around me.

I recommend this prompt to anyone who wants to stay savvy with their camera. I was thrown into difficult lighting situations, as well as handling a camera in rough terrain.

The most difficult aspect of this prompt was deciding when to give myself a break. Many of these experiences were enhanced (for me) by having my camera there, but sometimes I felt I sidelined myself. Cameras can make us a tourist to our lives, and that isn’t what I wanted. In the end, I decided ahead of time if it was a camera trip or a memory trip. This made the days I had my camera just as meaningful as the ones that only live in my memory now.

3. Portraits with Friends

image

image

image

image

image

Prompt: Do a shoot of 10 – 20 friends on different days and compile a series by the end of the year. Work in to printed portraits as you see fit (ie, mixed media, framed, etc.)

Result: By far my most anticipated prompt, and yet the one I feel I didn’t capitalize enough on in 2013. My friends are great sports, and used to me pulling out a camera on a moments notice. And while I loved a lot of the portraits I took this year (see above), I didn’t schedule a shoot dedicated to this concept.

On the other hand, I finally launched my new project titled, My Friends Make Art which features my creative friends in interviews, portraiture, and their own work and words.

In 2014, I’d like to take this prompt and enhance it in a different and deeper way, but keep the idea of mixed media.

Previous Post

«

Next Post

»

Leave a Reply