Now that it’s a new year, photographers are bound to want to begin new projects. And if you’re still mostly in the growing stages, then nothing can help you improve your craft more than dedicating yourself to a 365 photo project. We’ve interviewed many photographers about their very own and how they improved over the year that they spent honing their craft.
Here are five inspirational 365 photo projects that you’ll want to take a look at.
Bill Wadman’s Portraits in a Corner
Photographer Bill Wadman is a very well know figure in our industry. Besides being one of the hosts of On Taking Pictures, he is also a very successful commercial photographer with a huge emphasis on creative lighting and having pretty killer ideas. And in 2014, Bill set about to shoot as many portraits as he could in a specific corner of his apartment. Part of it has to do with self-discovery as Bill tells us.
“Iâm a self-taught photographer, never took any classes or workshops or assisted anyone. For me there is an advantage in discovering something for yourself. You get a better understanding of what works for you and what doesnât and it makes you better at dealing with situations where your standard setups just arenât working out. Sure, we all pick up tips from other photographers or online, but I like starting from scratch.”
Check out the project.
Travis Lawton’s Return to Film
Photographer Travis Lawton is a former editor here at the Phoblographer, and when he decided to embark on a personal project to hone his own photography skills, he chose to use film as his medium. It started with a single film SLR camera and eventually grew to include a rangefinder, polaroid, and TLR amongst others.
“Shooting film hones your eye by making you slow down and think about the shot before you’re going to take it.” says Travis. So how exactly did it change him?
According to our interview:
“I think it all boils down to getting the shot just right, even when shooting with digital now. You mentioned my baby, she is now 6 months. Gone is the âsnapshotâ for me. Even when taking pictures of my baby, I will move her into better lighting. I remember one time she was lying in her crib and the light was coming in straight at her from a window. This was giving a slight shadow under her eyes so I opened up a small reflector, propped it over her head and filled in the shadows. This for just an iPhone pic.”
Check out the project.
Sasha O’s 365 Self Portraits
Photographer Sasha O was one of the runner ups in a portrait contest that we did with Phottix. The editors here were pleased with her work and were even more surprised that a lot of it came from a 365 photo project. Sasha committed herself to creating one truly amazing photograph each day.–and set her mind to shooting self-portraits. Sasha tells us that the portraits were a way to express the way that she was feeling. But what’s even more amazing is that Sasha was extremely limited to only using herself in the images and to also only use props that she found at home.
In our interview, she states:
“With my 365 project I saw that my images always come out more interesting and special when I put my mood, my emotions into them. Even if everyone doesn’t understands the idea, they still mean more to me. But sometimes itâs not that easy to put your personal feelings into a picture. Itâs like to give away some piece of you, or to open up to strangers. What is even more difficult is to expose those pictures to public, not knowing how they will accept it. But I try to create images first of all for myself, as itâs not possible to satisfy everyone.
But sometimes a nice picture is just a nice picture, without a deep meaning. Everyone looking at it can find their own understanding of it.”
Check out the project.
Justin Aversano’s 365 Birthday Polaroids
Photographer Justin Aversano is based in Brooklyn, NY and completed a special project that requires lots of planning forced him to go out and find specific subjects. Justin embarked on a journey to shoot one Polaroid a day of specific people whose birthday was on that date. It started with just friends and family but became more challenging as time progressed. Eventually, it took him across the United States.
In our interview, Justin stated:
“‘To overcome initial nervousness is through self discipline, though there were a lot of doubts if one may or may not find someone whose birthday it is that day is quite a nervous thought, but when one embarks on an art project with their deepest passion and willpower then all is able.'”
Check out the project.
Handy Andy Pandy’s Surreal Portraits
F-Stop Lounge writer Handy Andy Pandy created a 365 photo project that yielded him some beautifully cinematic images and the most inspirational story in this roundup. Andy, like many other photographers, went through a very rough patch. And like many other artists, this rough patch translated in a very dark time for him where he even considered giving up on photography.
However, Andy decided to motivate himself and work his way through the problem by doing an extremely ambitious 365 photo project.
Check out Andy’s amazing photo project.
