I’m quickly finding that doing a project like this 365 leads to a lot of head scratching and, at times, down right desperation. Every day that I do not have a set idea for what I want to shoot I end up wandering around the house at 11pm wondering what in the heck am I going to do for my 365.
I feel like I’m back in high school. You know the days… English paper due tomorrow. You’ve had days to work on it. It’s sort of an open ended subject. Your parents are yelling at you to go to bed but you still have a paper to write. So there you are in your bedroom, with a flashlight, trying to BS a paper into existence.
Yep. That’s how this 365 is going for me today.
Flashlight… “Painting with light!” I exclaim! I haven’t done that since photo school. “That is what I shall do tonight!”
So round the house I go collecting “stuff”. Asking Meg for flashlights. Rifling through Joshua’s room for a few since he has a deep love for flashlights. Asking if I can turn the lights off. Wondering where my tripod is (at the studio). After all of that I come up with this piece of visual pollution.
Meh. At least that is straight out of camera except for the crop. It’s looking like a last minute photo 101 assignment.
I keep shooting and experimenting and doing this and doing that and doing this other thing and thank goodness I’m a klutz. Half way through an exposure I bump the chair that is acting as my tripod… and I mistake my way to my 365 offering of the day…
How it was shot :: Flower pot on footstool. Camera on dining room chair. Stained glass panel leaning against couch arm. (panel removed for “straight shot”) Three sticks of Nag Champa burning behind flower pot. LED (burns blue) flashlight behind flowers on another dining room chair. Standard incandescent (burns yellow) flashlight moving all around on flowers. Wife looking at husband as though he’s just lost a marble. F 11 at 30 seconds. Bump into chair/tripod during exposure.
“Expletive!”
“Oooo. Hmmm. Wait a minute.”
Post to Interwebs.
Cheers,
Zack
13 Comments
I love it when mt mistakes turn out to be exactly what i was looking for.
Now matter how professional we become, I still think we get lucky, and that sometimes we pull stuff off with happy accidents. I’m a sucker for light painting. This has to be my favorite so far this year.
Oh, and welcome back to social media… You have been missed.
Don’t worry Zack, I just completed my own 365 project recently (http://picasaweb.google.com/alexdifiori/PhotoOfTheDay?feat=directlink) and it was really hard at first for me too.
Motivation to continue was hard to come by for the first 100 days. After that, I realized what I’d already done and just kept at it. Before I knew it, I was sad the project was over.
The benefits will far outweigh the pain, I promise.
Besides, if I can do it, you can for sure.
I generally fall prey to the “great idea with no ending” problem, but my project is done and I’m already working on a new one.
Peace and Luck,
Alex
hey zack, love the project. so far. that’s right, i’m withholding judgment until a later date. but seriously, i love your work. alex is right, its the first 100 days that are tough. you make it til june (mr. hobby) and it’s all good. that was when i decided that i couldn’t stop at a year. i just posted day 884.i look forward to your year.
http://www.365inaustin.com
-bryan
Your descriptions alone are worth checking in here every day! Fortunately, there’s some pretty creative photography happening too. Keep it up man, you can do it.
thanks fo another great picture and for sharing the making-of-secrets, especially for giving us deep insight into the troubled mind of a 365er. I bookmarked your blog and am looking forward to the next 330 or so days with your inspiring photos!
I’m thinking of starting one on my birthday this year (Feb. 7th)…..not really to even “put out there” for anyone to see but to keep as a visual journal of the next year. We have some exciting things coming in the next year and I’m thinking it would be fun to have to look through several years from now…
Loving seeing your pics and the stories behind them….
The photo is great, but I think the description is slightly better!
Funny as hell.
Zach, glad to hear I’m in good company at 11 pm, scratching my own head and wondering what photo I’m going to take for the day. I’ve given myself the failsafe rule of posting archival shots that I’ve never shared if I can’t come up with anything or the day grinds me up too hard and there’s no time left. But I must say, and I think you’ll agree, the forced state of perpetual creativity is exhilarating, and it’s amazing to feel your perception sharpening. Good luck!
http://www.doublelgphotos.squarespace.com
It’s funny how our mistakes turn out to be our favorites under closer inspection.
I’ve come to experience that walking around the house got to be something with the first stage of the process isn’t? then you start walking around the neighborhood, I hope my project get’s better soon, cause I’m running out of ideas around the house, and the walks are getting larger. So good so far already. You really inspire me through your blog, my girlfriend submit a story of me for the VM contest, she didn’t win, but i got VM anyways, is good to see, that everyone strugles in their own level. keep the good work coming.
“the straight shot” – straight outa high school portfolio. classic