4. Backside and the Power of Projects
Sometime around June of 2021, I had some extra time at home (didn’t we all?) and I wanted to learn my cameras better.
I found my way to Photography YouTube, got the help I needed, and then quickly found my way over to the 'how to improve your artistic approach' side of YouTube.1
One of the first suggestions that stood out to me was: Create and shoot projects!
There were several inspiring videos on this topic but one that grabbed me was Brian Lloyd Duckett’s “Transform Your Street Photography with Projects.” This was really helpful and each time I watch it I take away something new.
If you have any question about what makes a great photography project, check out All they left was a chair by
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For me this is all a project should be. It's defined. It has something to say. It feels consistent. And while each picture could absolutely stand on its own, as Brian says, “The power of projects is that the collection of images is much stronger then the individual image.”
The more I learn about and try projects the more I realize they are more than just a group of photos around a single theme.
I also realize that I’m early on on in my progression and its going to take me a while to produce great projects.
That said, here is a recent project I've just finished.
Backside
The backside project asks: When you turn the corner, go down the alley, or walk around the back is there anything interesting to see? Is there beauty in the stuff that was not designed for consumption?
What fun or inspiring photo projects have you seen recently? Do you shoot projects? Anything else to share?
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Among the first videos to pull me in was one of Alex Kilbee’s many amazing talks on how to see better. More on Alex and some other great Photo YouTubers in upcoming posts.
Your Backside project reminds me quite a bit of Jason Hunter's work - @fuji.hunter on Instagram. He does some real magic with what would ordinarily be quite mundane subjects - the corners of buildings, the sides of big box stores, etc.
I'm trying to shoot projects more, but most of what I end up doing is wandering around aimlessly with a camera. I'm only just now starting to print work and work towards better editing (as in sequencing, not post processing), and it's way more difficult than it sounded like it would be.
On a side note, I too have done the YouTube deep dive on photography topics. Most of what's popular seems to be gear obsessed consumerism, not the useful and timeless photography philosophy I wanted. Brian Lloyd Duckett and Alex Kilbee are shining exceptions to that rule, and I would have to say Sean Tucker as well. Alan Schaller has another great channel (albeit very new), and focuses a bit on the concepts of photography and a bit on how to use gear to achieve those concepts.
I can relate, over the years I have taken lots of photos that were all over the place. Nothing wrong with that, I just like many types of photography and I'm interested in many subjects, but I do feel that doing things like projects can give a bit more meaning to the photographs :) For me it's also quite early days in terms on doing 'proper' projects, but I just take it one step at a time.