Behind the Scene: Working in Projects
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about projects or collections of images. Before going too far, the way I view projects are they are a collection of images with a common thread between them. In terms of the size, I don’t know exactly where the limits would lie, but it is likely more than 5 images, I guess it can be as large as one would want, but there are other characteristics that would likely limit it’s size from growing too large. Images should both stand on their own AND work well in the group. It is highly likely that in the creation of a project, some good images will be left by the wayside because they may be too similar to other images in the collection or they don’t fit closely enough with the theme.
With some of these things out of the way, why has my mind started to drift in this direction? It first came to my attention without any real knowledge of what I was really looking at, projects weren’t really on my radar. I started to notice a common theme cropping up in a specific type of image I was making. When I went back to some of my favorite waterfall images I was noticing I tended to have a natural inclination to make images out of the details and small portions of a waterfall. I was always sure to take the picture that showcased the whole thing and tried to work out different compositions that included the waterfall in the environment but almost every time I ended up with images that focused on a small section or single cascade in a waterfall as well. I’m sure it serves some deeper purpose that I haven’t quite caught onto yet but I know I appreciate the idea of going to a place thousands of photographers have been before and coming away with something that is unique, not because I am a better photographer, but because we all see things differently and there is nearly no way to replicate a small scene like this. Over the last couple years I have collected a number of images that fit this theme and I look for this collection to continue growing, not because I set out with that as the goal, but because it is my way of seeing the landscape.
A second type of project I have worked on a few times is a collection of images that tell the story of a trip to a specific location. I currently have some of these displayed on my website with images from Acadia National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The common thread among these is the place. Just like my collection of images around waterfalls, I would hope that these are living, breathing projects that with return trips would grow and mature, some images being added while others are left behind. The process for creating a project like this is much different, images are made over a shorter period of time, in quick bursts of a couple days to a few weeks in some cases. The selection and editing of the images also occurs in a more compact time frame over the course of a few weeks to a few months, in my experience. I’m currently beginning this process anew as I recently returned from Death Valley National Park and I’m in the extremely early phases of selecting which images may work, and which will not. I will then begin editing the group of selected images before releasing them as a collection.
Another type of project that I aspire to create some day I learned about from an amazing photographer, Brent Clark. Brent has organized his website based on feelings or emotions. Instead of the literal representations we see most often in photography he has chosen to categorize his images based on the feelings they evoke. Individually, his images are amazing, but seeing them how he has chosen to present them together as a collection based around an emotion has inspired me to think about my own work differently.
Throughout this process I’ve found a few resources beneficial in my thinking and development. First, Brooks Jensen, the founder and editor of LensWork Magazine continually produces new material. While I am not a subscriber to LensWork magazine I know many who are and find its resources invaluable. It is on my short list for future purchases…maybe an upcoming birthday, who knows! His podcast, “Here’s A Thought” continually presents new ideas and inspires me to try something different. Brooks covers all sorts of topics, but frequently comes back to the idea that sets of images shared together in nearly any format tell a more complete story than the single image. How can one image encapsulate a mood? How can one image summarize an entire trip? It’s really hard to do, in a sense, a project gives you more chances to connect with the viewer than the lone image. Second, this article from Theo Bosboom, Project Based Working brought some of the ideas shared by Brooks to life. I could begin to see not just the big picture, but what steps would be necessary to bring the project to life. By no means have I arrived, but I can see the path forward and what steps will need to be taken.
With all this being said, are projects better than single images? I’m not really sure if the answer to that really matters…It is a different way of working, one in which I will continue to pursue. I think it will push me to explore places more deeply and elevate what I deem to be acceptable quality from my work. I hope it gives me reason to continue to explore and develop deeper connections with the subjects I choose to focus on. Ultimately, who knows what these projects will become, but even if they go nowhere at all, the act of creating them and pursuing them has been valuable for me.
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This time on Behind the Scene, I explore the idea of photographing local icons and how I made one of my favorite images from last year from the stunning Hocking Hills region of Ohio.