I’ve taken on two new photographic challenges for 2009. I decided to go ahead and take a photo every day of something. It can be a self-portrait, but doesn’t have to be, and I’m finding myself preferring it not be. The challenge is not to just take a photo, but to take an artistic and interesting photo. Eighteen days into it and I’ve discovered that the storytelling became as big a part of it as the photo itself. I am now seeking images that come with a story because it makes it more interesting and will be more enjoyable to look back on when I’m done. As I’ve been so neglectful posting here, I will likely use my daily photo and story as a way of keeping in touch every day until I have something else to write about. Or maybe it will become a true daily photo blog after all. Clearly I need to let this be organic in its development (this space, I mean).
The second challenge was issued by my husband after I said I was considering starting “52 Weeks” (a self-portrait each week), but wanted to limit myself to a specific theme in some way. His challenge? COLOR. Not just color, but the finished photo should be an image that would not work if it weren’t for the color. The color should be the main point, essentially. The reason for the challenge is that if you look at my two straight years of daily self-portraits, there is not a lot of color. I seem to often go to the black and white or monochrome, or at the very least severely desaturated images. Pete loves color. A lot of people love color! When he first suggested it, I resisted. I rejected. I didn’t want to do it.
But then I realized that the whole point of a challenge is to do something difficult; something that will push me. I accepted for the sole reason that the very idea of it made me squirm uncomfortably. I’ve only done 2 weeks so far (decided to start with the first full week of 2009) and I’m not living up to my potential yet. I started with a warm-up, using really only one main color, just to give myself a chance to get used to the idea:
The second week I had a very clear idea of the grass hugging my body, and added the Clementines in for a nice color compliment, but it didn’t come out as good as I had envisioned. It definitely wouldn’t work in black and white (well, it wouldn’t be the same image), so I’m moving in the right direction:
I’m stressing out about ideas now, as I think I need to get more creative. I want the images to have more of a storytelling aspect, too, because I’d like my work to go more in that direction. I’m glad for the challenge even if it makes me crazy each week. ☺
