All photographs taken by and used with permission from Handy Andy Pandy.
In a perfect world, we’d all be amazing at our craft. Everything around us would be picture-perfect, we’d take a shot and it would always be a great one, and we wouldn’t have bad photo days, at all.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), we don’t live in a perfect world. Most of the things around us are mundane, most of our shots wouldn’t come out as great as we think they would, and we’d wake up to days when we just can’t seem to get a shot right. Even Ansel Adams admitted, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”
About a year ago, Melbourne-based photographer and F-Stop Lounge writer Handy Andy Pandy found himself in this same bad rut that most photographers are only too familiar with. He confessed that he felt disconnected from his camera, that there were many days when he’d go out and take hundreds of photos only to come home without any good ones.
It got to the point where he actually considered selling his gear and give up photography altogether. Instead of giving up on his passion however, he decided to throw himself into a 365 project that’s even crazier, even more ambitious than usual.
He started cultivating his skills by watching a ton of Photoshop tutorial videos from Phlearn.com and experimenting with lighting setups, cramming many years worth of photographic and post-processing techniques in just a few months. And instead of waiting for perfect shooting opportunities to come to him, he started making things happen, taking inspiration from everyday life, movies, Shakespeare, and even coffee.
The results were almost instantaneous. Suddenly, his shots went from being just ok to incredible and fulfilling, from normal to insanely awesome. 265 days in and he still hasn’t missed a single day. And if you scroll through his project from the earliest to the latest, you can literally see the change in his photography.
The success of Andy’s 365 project just goes to show just how far perseverance and plenty of practice can take you. It also proves that Adams was spot on when he insisted that “you don’t (just) take a photograph, you make it.”
See some of the shots from Handy Andy Pandy’s project after the jump and check out the entire set on his Flickr page.
Pumped Up (252/365)
Fat Little Red Balloon Man (152/365)
I’m Having a Tea Party and You’re Invited (134/365)
Fragile (131/365)
Chocolate and Vanilla (108/365)
In My Hands (65/365)
My Creative Process (54/365)
I Tried Being Normal But It Was Not My Thing (42/365)
Transmigration (2/365)
Pinhead (1/365)