Today was the first day I woke up and thought... shit, 365 days is a loooooooong time.
Don't get me wrong I am having a ball but this morning it just kind of hit me that this is the new routine - wake up think of a new self portrait idea, complete it, and in the mean time don't forget to do all of the other normal everyday stuff like work, and ... study, and... socialise with people IRL.
I know it's only been a little over a week but I feel like I've already done so much that I would never have even attempted had it not been for this 365 project. Everyday I wake up with a new idea (or 10) for an image. For the most part I am running blind. I am trying not to pay attention to what I "should" and "shouldn't" be able to achieve with the equipment I have on hand. The less research I do the better (which if you knew me IRL you would know is just sooooooooo against everything I stand for). I just set up my tripod and give it a shot. The idea is that if I can't achieve the shot, so be it, try something else, except so far they have all pretty much turned out... I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing... I swing from "oh shit the pressure, I've done it before I should be able to do it again" to "meh, If it works it works and if it doesn't *shrugs*" in a matter in microseconds, and it seems there is no in-between.
So what I really wanted to do today is take a moment to think about and confirm to myself a few things I have learnt so far:
1) Taking photo's everyday has made me more conscious of the world around me. My brain is constantly looking around and asking me: how can I use that scene to my advantage and turn it into a decent photo? How would I compose the shot? What angle should I shoot from relative to my subject? What focal length do I need? What kind of DoF would I find ideal? What kind of shutter speed would I need to capture or freeze the movement in the frame? Do I need to adjust the scenes natural lighting? What kind of post processing would be best suited to realising my concept?
All these questions constantly racing through my head! I tell you, if it weren't so much fun it would be exhausting.
2. You don't need an expensive kit to play with lighting. I always thought that if I wanted to create any sort of decent portraits I'd need to invest in some sort of lighting set up - and then I'd have to learn how to use that lighting set up, which to be honest was so daunting it paralysed me. But so far, in my opinion anyway this just simply isn't true. Every one of my images so far has been made using ambient light, on camera flash. an old black umbrella I spray painted silver to use as a reflector a halogen 'workman's' light that I bought on a whim from buntings (for the grand total of $30!), and... (my favourite of all!) an old translucent white poncho that I hung over an old costume rack to use as a diffusor for my halogen lights in my nude photo for day 7.
Not too bad for 9 days... if I do say so myself.
If you want to check out all of the photos so far, you will find them at the following web address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewarmthofsunlight/sets/72157632394611716/
Here's to many more days of adventure and education :-)
Much love,
D
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