The photographic project.

AnCatDubh

Slightly different from a gear thread (hopefully a little refreshing).

How are you people getting on with taking your photography onward and upward where-ever that may be or may take you?

Any of you got photographic projects going on - i'm defining a project as something that will build over time rather than yes, I have a photographic project that i'll capture the zoo, the bots, temple bar, or any other location that you care to mention, in an afternoon (sorry, they are all discounted unless you have a particular angle on it).

Have people thought about embarking on some great photographic project?

Or indeed, it needn't be a single exclusive project - why not embark on multiple projects... that may take you a lifetime to semi complete.

If you don't have long term goals then are you just a snap shot wonder - ok, that was said to hopefully simulate emotion and passion that you folks have (eh, at least I think you all have )

If you were to embark on a grand photographic adventure within the confines of your present availability then what would it be?

So, what do folks think.

melekalikimaka

i have a few, danbo being a big one... i ad to it when i can, he never leaves my side.
starting a light painting on on stencils with a theme of pop culture and unlikely pairings with in that context...still developing it tho.

Chorcai

I have been taking photos of hands, as of late still have to sort em out.

Ghost Train

Chorcai wrote: »

I have been taking photos of hands, as of late still have to sort em out.

do you need a hand with it

Chorcai

Ghost Train wrote: »

do you need a hand with it

har har !:D

Not a project as such, but I'm still focusing more on the technical side of the photographical journey. Indeed, the essence of what is, can be, and does.

I suppose you could say, figuratively speaking, that I intend to educate, appreciate, understand and accomplish, all that is functional, practical, and perhaps even theoretically possible, within the confines of the lightproof chamber we so often take for granted in our current lives.





In other words, I'm still trying to figure out how to use the fucking thing!

I tell you, the minute you accomplish any little thing with a camera (speaking as a beginner, here), there's always another problem, issue, fault or bug waiting around the corner to ruin things for you.


It sickens me looking at other people's brilliang photographs on pix and flickr. Why can't I do that!!!


EDIT: Maybe someone could suggest projects they've done before, for others on here to steal? I'm still trying to get my head around the camera system as a whole, so I wouldn't really even know where to start. I take photos of anything and everything for the sake of it. Maybe some people set themselves up little projects when they were starting out that helped them along the way?

bernard0368

I have two on the go at the minute.

Film: I have not used film in 20 years so giving it a go. I have got hold of a few rolls of Infared film and i cant wait for sun. (bloody snow,rain,country:mad:)

Macro: A small project for the summer that will be fun with insects.

.Longshanks.

I want to get a picture framed in my house with four shots in it. The idea (in my head) is that each shot will instinctively tell the viewer that they represent the 4 seasons of the year.
Suffice to say, its going to take me at least a year to complete. Reckon I've Autumn and Winter already sorted. I might already have Summer on my HD, but I haven't looked properly yet.
Spring was looking up until it started to snow last nite. Not quite what I had in mind....

AnCatDubh

hmnnn.... so a little bit happening project wise from those that have contributed.

I guess once you enjoy photography, then its fine no matter what.

I've found myself out with camera in recent times and not taking it out of its case. I've also been out and taken very few. I think i'm starting to get a little more selective about what I want to shoot.

Has anyone actually written up a photography project plan (even on the back of a matchbox) i.e. over the first 3 months I will plan, plot, and prepare, then shoot for six months, then review for three, then destroy everything that i've done , then back to the drawing board - etc., etc... and have you been able to stick to it.

Does anyone think that the difference between a snap shot and a photograph is the preparation and the intent rather than that you happen to be walking on a Sunday afternoon with your camera and come across a particular event which you just happen to capture.

pointshootrpt

I'm working on a particular project at the moment called the last polaroids of Dublin.

Basic premise is just to rediscover photography and refocus my brain to seek out interesting subjects that catch my eye around the city.

What I found was happening was that I would head out with my DSLR take dozen or in the case of a trip abroad take hundreds of shots. Then I would get home and realise that there were max two or three shots that I would actually be happy with.

Heading out with a Polaroid camera, where each shot I take is getting increasingly expensive (almost 2 euro a shot) has made me appreciate each shot that I take. It has meant I think long and hard before I hit the shutter release. Brings me back to the days of film and print. After some excursions I've come back with no shots taken. It's a surprisingly refreshing concept.

Once my Polaroid film runs out I'm looking to bring back my new found appreciation to my trusty Nikon D50.

My sample Blurb book of my Polaroid's arrived yesterday and must say I'm impressed with the quality. Though Ill need to do a few rescans before I go public with it.

Other than that I've decided that I'm going to put together another book in the Autumn to keep me focussed over the summer months.

Paulw

I've a nice little project for the summer.

I've been granted permission by the copyright holders of some picts of Dublin, taken in the 1961 to reprint the images, and then go out around Dublin to try to reshoot the scenes. Obviously, Dublin has changed a lot since then, so even finding some of the locations will be fun.

Once I recapture the scenes, I'll hopefully be able to put together a gallery of the images then and now (again with the copyright holder's permission).

It's something that may take a good few weeks, because it will require a good bit of research, never mind co-operation from the weather, to try and capture the scenes as they are now.

AnCatDubh

love these ideas. Had thought of the "then and now" idea and at some stage would like to venture into it.

love the polaroids concept too - a variation on the theme for those without a polaroid is to price each shot you take on your dSLR (could be dangerous on burst mode ) and decide on a beneficiary of the resulting total price (charity, new lens fund, drinks night out). Limit yourself by a €20 shooting budget perhaps.

swingking

The ongoing project I am working on at the moment is silhouettes. I'm trying to capture as many silhouettes as possible. I love the form and shape of different things

squareballoon

I think I'm still trying to find My Own Style. I can't figure out if I prefer bright and colourful, muted vintage, black and white or whether it's ok to have a combination of all of them. I want to do more outdoor shooting. If only the weather was kinder.

melekalikimaka

melekalikimaka wrote: »

starting a light painting on on stencils with a theme of pop culture and unlikely pairings with in that context...still developing it tho.

got email from a clothing line to ask if i'd do there advertisement shots with the light painting... so this project has just kicked into overdrive...

squareballoon

melekalikimaka wrote: »

got email from a clothing line to ask if i'd do there advertisement shots with the light painting... so this project has just kicked into overdrive...

Wow! fantastic. Well done.

daycent

Longshanks100 wrote: »

I want to get a picture framed in my house with four shots in it. The idea (in my head) is that each shot will instinctively tell the viewer that they represent the 4 seasons of the year.
Suffice to say, its going to take me at least a year to complete. Reckon I've Autumn and Winter already sorted. I might already have Summer on my HD, but I haven't looked properly yet.
Spring was looking up until it started to snow last nite. Not quite what I had in mind....

Winter should cover you for all 4!

bullpost

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Does anyone think that the difference between a snap shot and a photograph is the preparation and the intent rather than that you happen to be walking on a Sunday afternoon with your camera and come across a particular event which you just happen to capture.

I don't think its that cut and dry though I think you'll come on leaps and bounds as a photographer once you concentrate on preparation and intention. I saw a fantastic photo of a horse recently which won a competition in the UK. The photo was stunning but the photographer explained that he was just out hiking and came across the scene and immediately recognised the potential and went and got the shot. In his case its probably his trained photographic eye that enabled him to spot the potential and realise it. This also required the technical skills necessary to get a shot that does the scene justice . So knowledge of light, camera skills and compositional skills would be required.

sprinkles

I've been trying to think of a project that would interest me - mainly because it'll give me a reason (and focus) to go out and shoot. Still haven't come up with an idea I really like. I'm toying with the idea of transport as a theme but I haven't settled on the overall story I want to tell.

I'm working on a seasonal photo project, I have a number of locations I want to capture around Vancouver throughout the year, have the first set mostly done now - actually waiting for it to rain again :eek: This is more of a long term project though, I want to work on a few more in the meantime!

melekalikimaka

squareballoon wrote: »

Wow! fantastic. Well done.

it was very similar to what i was going for with the project so worked out well. Suprising few amount of togs do light painting in uk and ireland

magicbastarder

i need a project. i had a notion to document a golf course closing down, as it went to seed, but a) the logistics of documenting someone's business failure might rankle with them, making permission an issue, and b) the golf course received a stay of execution.

pbt20

Read a book last year about an engineer called Alexander Nimmo who did a lot of work in the west of Ireland in the 1800's. Mostly piers bridges and roads. He left a big legecy of work throughout the west which I hope to get to photograph. Just getting back into taking photo's and with the new entry level dslr its all a big learning curve but thats my long term project, and there is no rush.

magicbastarder

was it one of tim robinson's books you read?

pullandbang

I have a little pet project that involves trying to capture the essence of fly fishing. The season has just started on the Boyne and I have a few willing "models" lined up - just waiting for the weather.......

Examples;

pbt20

"Alexander Nimmo, the western district" by Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill. Not exactly easy reading, lots of maps charts and plans. It just local history of the thing I liked.

magicbastarder

you'd like the tim robinson books so - local history, geography and ecology of connemara.

ThOnda

OK, I won't mention what comes up on my mind, because the lack of humor here could ban me for some time, but my photography project is to pick up my camera a little more often than once a month :eek:

sineadw

My brain is full of them at the moment, but I don't have time for most of them. I have a kind of fine art one in my head that's been there for a few months. Its a studio one, based on the concept of art as archaeology. I have to plan it though. Maybe over the summer...

Been messing around with filters and film a LOT the last few months. I now have quite the array of crappy 8 euro ones from ebay that I have fun with. I recently rediscovered my stafractor which had been lying in a box for two years. I don't have a 'project' with them as such yet, but I'm experimenting lots.

My biggie is the one I'm doing with Dakar for college. I've posted a few here and there's a folder I chuck stuff into in pixie, but they're not edited for print or edited down yet there. So don't look I'm working on that now for the next month or so. I was dreaming in Illustrator format last night :rolleyes: I just finished transcribing a 4000 word interview that I'll maybe include. And/or some more abstracted text. I officially finished the photographic side of it on Monday, for this semester's project at least, but I'm going to keep it going as a personal thing as I KNOW there are many better shots in it. And I think I'd miss it. I went into it never having tried documentary photography before so I'm still very much a beginner. To say I've learned a lot from having a set project and good guidance on it would I think be the understatement of the century. There are a multitude of shots out there that people have come across without planning, obviously, but I very much doubt they teach you in the same way as going with a clear view in mind. Street photography being the obvious exception.

Anyway, rant over

democrates

Vast hammer and tongs coding going on now so the photography is in a major trough compared with what I'd like to be doing. On the upside the coding is for the photography workflow so it'll be worth it in the end. It's like sitting on the subs bench training for a match Ted.

tullie

I've been working on a project for the last month or so, which I plan on continuing for a while. I've an elderly relative with Dementia, so I'm documenting her life now and the people around her.

It's definitely challenging particularly coming up with new ideas all the time given the limited space. So far I'm pretty happy with the results. Its more of a fly on the wall type project I guess.

sineadw

tullie wrote: »

I've been working on a project for the last month or so, which I plan on continuing for a while. I've an elderly relative with Dementia, so I'm documenting her life now and the people around her.

It's definitely challenging particularly coming up with new ideas all the time given the limited space. So far I'm pretty happy with the results. Its more of a fly on the wall type project I guess.

Not sure if it's the same type of thing, but have you seen Days with My Father?

Would love to see your stuff when you're happy to show it

smelltheglove

sineadw wrote: »

Not sure if it's the same type of thing, but have you seen Days with My Father?

The first time I saw that it brought me to tears, a beautiful set.

My ongoing project lately has been actions really, I'm focussing on a style of pp that I want to put over all my wedding images. I have been working with the Guy Gowan actions mainly but want something else that makes them stand out more so there are a few things I have settled on. I have a specific form of pp that I add to some images when called for but my main focus is actions at the moment and finding a form of processing that I really really like and would not sway from.

greener greene

In January I finished a smallish project of self portraits taken from the inside of kitchen appliances using a fish-eye. Planning to take another bash at it after the leaving cert and to include other people and kitchens

sheesh

Nothing as high falutin' as already mentioned -some of them are really cool- here but I keep meaning to carry out a project as more a technical exercise
we were given a talk by a photographer on landscape photography

he showed us examples of images with foreground interest, leading lines, framing (of the main object in the image), the 'rule of thirds' and others
I was thinking of carrying out a project where i took these individually and took pictures that contained these.

Calina

I'm trying to add to the boats and I'm considering something involving lighthouses as well.

sprinkles

sineadw wrote: »

Not sure if it's the same type of thing, but have you seen Days with My Father?

Would love to see your stuff when you're happy to show it

I love that set. Brings a tear every time I look at it.

stabo

Calina wrote: »

I'm trying to add to the boats and I'm considering something involving lighthouses as well.

Was that you who was looking for shipwrecks last year? if so how did you get on,would be interested in doing the same.

Calina

stabo wrote: »

Was that you who was looking for shipwrecks last year? if so how did you get on,would be interested in doing the same.

Yeah it was me. I am nowhere close to being finished because I wrote off a lot of weekends to work. I'm back with it though.

dakar

I'm surprisingly enjoying being on the other side of the camera for sineadw's project (and now that the college element is nearly out of the way, I can start bending it to my evil will..... Muahahahaha )

Other than that, I've been archiving my family's photos, from my Grandad's baby pictures, through those wonderful shots taken by opportunistic street photographers on O'Connell St in the 40's in the hope that the subjects (like my granparents) would buy a print and on to the frozen slices of my old childhood of the 70's and 80's. It's getting to the stage where photos without a serious yellow colour cast or enough grain to feed a hungry family just look 'wrong'

As for actual photography, I'm keeping my powder dry for sofobomo. I have two definite projects in mind. One is relatively straightforward, in that it's a series of photos with a common theme, kind of an updated version of the archiving I've been doing, a memory box kind of thing.

The other is more ambitious and requires the collaboration of my nearly six year old as creative director. This might be a big ask!

I (eventually) completed my sofobomo last year and cannot recommend the process highly enough for anyone who needs to exert a little pressure on themselves to complete a project. There is a lovely satisfaction is actually holding a book of your own photos in your hand. Those who have had a photo in the boards book, it's a multiple of that feeling!

Gr1f

nice thread.


Although I have messed around with photos over the years I only really started taking it seriously (as much as a hobby can be serious) over the past few years.

I kinda progressed into landscape stuff out of trying to achieve the perfect landscape (the holy grail to some....doubt i'll ever get near it...). But i'd shoot anything of interest. As a graphic designer for many moons I would also tend to shoot to gather information and then compose the image in p.shop. E.g. Shoot scene with different exposures then blend later. I tend to pay particular attention to dramatic skies....

Anyway, in relation to 'projects'. Quite a few people have asked me if I ever had an exhibition, my reply was no, don't think i'm nearly good enough...but some day maybe.

Earlier this year I decided to set myself some goals. One of them is having an exhibition. I decided to investigate...

End result is I am showing over the August Bank Holiday weekend in a Gallery in Lahinch.

The theme will be Co. Clare as I wanted to show local images primarily. They will also be mainly landscapes.

I'm now crapping myself.... :-) But, it will definitely let me know if i'm in any way good or not!

Here's a link to some of my work
http://www.markjgriffin.ie/portfolio/photography/

p.s. something's got to pay for all this gear!

Cheers
Grif

stabo

^ Great pics on your site Mark.good luck with exhibt.

Gr1f

Thanks Stabo, appreciate that :-)

dakar

Oh yeah, I forgot about my project to make single shot pinhole cameras using 24 x 30cm Xray film....

Misa-san

Got a college documentary project going on at the moment photographing my Granddad. It's very odd approaching a member of your family as a subject, realising you're incredibly uncomfortable around this person you've known all your life and then trying to capture an essence that will translate to people who've never met them.

It's been interesting though, I've had to look at his surroundings more, discover things I knew were there all along (I became obsessed with a radio for about 20minutes.... results to follow soon enough). Now all I have to do is develop the last rolls of film and see what has come out.

Been shooting on medium format black and white film, on a camera that would have been around when Granddad was my age (it wasn't his, but it did belong to my other granddad, added ... random bit of info) I have no way of knowing if they're in focus until I see them - but Sinead gave me some great advice in saying "Focus is overrated sometimes" so I may take some liberties with that! If not :P I have my 35mm b+w concept shots I have to back up the main images.

Just thinking about how to display them now ... want to play on the concept of "One Big Portrait". Possibly mounting them with photo-corners on a plain mount, and have one window cut around all of them ... but I need to see how many shots I use in my final presentation first ...

Anyway, that's me

tullie

sineadw wrote: »

Not sure if it's the same type of thing, but have you seen Days with My Father?

Would love to see your stuff when you're happy to show it

Thanks for that, I hadn't actually, but having looked now, its along similar lines. Someone else put me on to Judith fox - i still do.

I'm currently trying to reorganise it all so will pop some up as soon as I can. It's a funny one not having an actual deadline. I mean I can continue until well.... the inevitable happens, as a result not sure on how to arrange it just yet.

tullie

Misa-san wrote: »

Got a college documentary project going on at the moment photographing my Granddad. It's very odd approaching a member of your family as a subject, realising you're incredibly uncomfortable around this person you've known all your life and then trying to capture an essence that will translate to people who've never met them.

I know exactly what you mean, I've been looking at the relationships between family members and the subject of the project (my gran) as well, but I think the key is spending as much time as possible, and eventually the fact that you're there photographing everything gets ignored by everyone else, subject matter included.

Sleepy

Not been shooting alot due to working away from home and moving house recently but I've two on the go:

the first is a simple 'improve my technique' project - using a fully manual Fed-3 to reduce the number of shots I take and teach me to be more selective in what I shoot.

The second might sound a bit odd but it's one I've been casually doing for quite some time now - lamp posts. I've no idea what sparked it but I've been taking photos of random lamp posts since I first got a dSLR a little over a year ago.