[wshi]

So I've been stagnating pretty badly lately with taking photos. Some days I'll take along the ME Super and not take a single frame. I don't bother carrying around the "giant" K-x anymore, unless my single purpose is to take photos.

I recently built a light box, which was a fun little project in itself, but I haven't put it to much good use yet. I've been doing some reading, and I've come across 3 projects that I'd like to do. 1 photo a day for 365 days, 100 strangers, and photo A-Z. The first is pretty self explanatory, but for those of you that don't know, the aim of 100 strangers is to meet, photograph, and talk to 100 strangers. No candids allowed!

A-Z is taking 1 photo representing each letter of the alphabet in one way or another.

So, basically I don't know which to start with. What do you guys think? Or should I just go ahead and do all three? The only one that really seems to require commitment is the 365...

Of course, any other cool project ideas, feel free to share.

[RioRico]

Give yourself an assignment. Pick an event and cover it. Tell stories, independent or intertwined. Read stories and illustrate them. Create a photo comic strip, with word balloons. Stalk someone and tell their story. Illustrate a prophesy.

Or impose limitations: Only shoot straight up. Only shoot straight down. Only shoot at a fixed focus and aperture, like 1m at f/2. Only shoot 30-second exposures. Only shoot into mirrored surfaces. Only shoot with a blue-violet filter.

Et cetera.

ADDENDUM: Here's a project: Get a bellows. Get a cheap simple magnifying lens. Put the lens on the bellows. Shoot significant pictures with insignificant optics. Add a blue-violet filter -- now you have an 1870's-quality outfit. Try to equal the work done then.

Above, I mentioned fixed-focus shooting. I have a Russian Industar-58u 75/3.5 projector lens (US$20) that's embedded in a weird black horn. I used macro tubes to form a PK mount for it. Focus is fixed at 1m. I must turn the horn to vary the aperture. This is an ideal project lens -- all shots are at close-portrait distance. Use something like that for general photography, eh? Make a project of it.

[Andrew Lang]

read "within the frame" (david duChemin) and then try and follow the ethics there and take some shots of people. try and bring out the emotions you feel about your home town (or wherever you are now).

ps the book is well worth the cash, it's about photography, but alot of it applies to life as well.

[wshi]

read "within the frame" (david duChemin) and then try and follow the ethics there and take some shots of people. try and bring out the emotions you feel about your home town (or wherever you are now).

ps the book is well worth the cash, it's about photography, but alot of it applies to life as well.

I started on this, and it is very well thought out. The section labeled "The Artist and the Geek" should be read by anyone looking for a cure for LBA. Very true stuff he has written.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Oh and by the way, if anyone votes for the "something else," please post that something else here.

[goddo31]

I think the 100 strangers idea is great, as it suggests going outside your comfort zone and talking to strangers. I'd imagine that to keep you interested and challenged for a while.

RioRico has many good suggestions. IMO, picking an assignment like an event is a good one, one that I would enjoy. Try assignments that you might like to organise into a nice set or even a photo book. For me these might be things like taking photos of different cars I see but restricting myself to one lens/FL or film type. Or doing something like taking photos at a certain location (like a landscape) and watching how conditions and lighting change.

[johnmflores]

I volunteered for an independent candidate in last year's gubernatorial race. Had nearly unrestricted access. Got some great shots - and pushed my photography in a new direction. Maybe find something that you are passionate about and document it.

[mysticcowboy]

Browse some galleries like Flickr or SmugMug. What draws you? Look daily for a couple of weeks and see if you keep coming back to the same kinds of images. If it's candid people shots, that's your assignment. If it's light trails, the go for night photos. What interests me is of no use to you. However, I'm in the last month of a 365 and have found that the pressure of the self-assignment has pushed me through a couple of dry spells. I always manage to come up with something. Often enough I'm surprised by what I see.

And doing a 365 doesn't preclude subject assignments. People do weekly or monthly themes. But whatever you do, don't stop to think too much. The tendency to fall into paralysis by analysis is strong.

michael mckee
My Port Townsend – A City in Photographs – 365

[Tamia]

I found that participating in the various challenges in the Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories portion of the forum helped me to focus on subjects I might never have considered.

Each week there's a Project 52 (though there will be a gap of a couple weeks in July this year), and a Weekly Challenge, and a PP (Post-Processing) Challenge. Why not participate in them? They're like mini assignments, and they can help you hone your skills while encouraging you to shoot things you never would have before.