why I don’t like photo a day projects…..

By chuq | Published January 14, 2011

30 Post 365 Project: 3 of 365

First, let me say that I’m only 3 days into my first 365 and I can absolutely see why people struggle to get it done. I’m only shooting 30 minutes or a little more and I’m feeling the “crunch” today with time. Wow… You really have to push yourself to get it done.

This statement by Michael Frye, in a microcosm, is why I don’t like photo a day or 365 projects…

I have nothing against them — but personally, I can’t see a purpose for me.

I’ve met too many photographers who’ve committed to one who get in a few weeks or months and find themselves at 10PM at night, taking a picture of their stapler just to do something, and about then, they seem to wonder “WHAT AM I DOING?”

There are many aspects about being a better photographer that this not only doesn’t help, but I feel gets in the way of. It’s not about improving your eye for composition, or practicing your post processing, or studying technique, or extending your craft. It’s about pushing the button — to me, it turns into grunt work very quickly, and sends a message (which I don’t like) that the only thing that matters is pushing the shutter button. How does that improve your craft?

So my recommendation is this: If you go into this kind of project, understand what your goal is and know why this project is going to help you with that goal. The day it turns into a grind you regret starting, or that you don’t feel like it’s helping those goals — stop. it starts being destructive the day it starts making you hate touching the camera….

And remember that pushing the button is really a minor part of being a photographer, and not necessarily a major aspect of photography. if all you’re doing is hauling out a camera once a day and pushing a button while pointing it at something, why are you doing this?

If what you need is some project to force you into the habit of taking pictures — great. but realize that at some point of the year, you’re likely to start taking pictures just for the project, and not for the larger goals. When you do that, ask yourself if the project still makes sense.

And realize that there are many other things you should also be doing to continue your growth as a photographer, and do those as well.

For me, that’s why I made a decision to do the Saturday Foto Fest, and the Friendly Feathery Sunday postings. It forces me to evaulate my portfolio every week, and make choices — and it also forces me to add new material on a regular basis so I don’t run out of stuff to post; but it also recognizes time realities and the other aspects of my life, and that I feel more that it’s about the finished product over time than about a daily ritual of button pressing.

If you want to do a 365 project, have fun! and I guess that’s my point. The day if stops being fun is the day you should stop. Don’t continue just because you started it; continue it because it’s helping you with the goal you set when you started it.

Related posts:

  1. 2011 projects — back to writing
  2. A funny thing happened on the way to going pro…
  3. Refactoring a Photo collection
  4. Know when to hold it, know when to fold it
  5. If a shoe drops in a forest…..
This entry was posted in Photography. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
  • http://twitter.com/cottonM cottonM

    As a serious hobbyest of about 3 years I just finished a full pic a day for 2010. I was really glad when it ended _and_ glad I did it. I certainly wasn’t blind to the obvious downsides of obligation, boredom, and mediocrity. And there were times all of them converged to make a drudge.

    So why did I do it? First because there’s validity to the need to do something 10K times/hours to reach some level of competence. I’m in my 60s & I know how this works and more importantly doesn’t work. The enthusiasm of newness erodes & motivation fades as it becomes clear that it won’t come easy and your attempts at whatever it is are pretty inadequate. I knew I needed (still need) to click the shutter a lot. I did 4700 times. Second I have no style, favored type or subject matter at this point. I sure can’t figure that out by merely looking at things. So it forced me to shoot in all sorts of places and think about subjects I just wouldn’t have considered. Third, I quickly realized that there would be days when I just couldn’t do it. So I stayed within a week of the assignment and never used an old image. How in the heck was I going to even know the “assignment” when I had no Internet on vacation? Last by posting them to Flickr I got decent feedback from people.

    I sure wouldn’t recommend it unless you can accept the limitations inherent in the exercise. But then any kind of exercise has it’s build in limits. But I needed the exercise. I’m a better, more committed, aware photographer for it.

  • Pingback: In Response to Day 3 « PhotoCapM

  • http://photocapm.com/ Mike Frye

    Thank you for writing this Chuq and I appreciate you reading my blog. What you have posted here in response to what I said is very insightful and very worthy of consideration when one is looking to possibly do a project 365. Some do go into these types of projects not understanding that they should have goals related to improving their skills and abilities.

    Your post expresses very well why one should not do this for the sake of just “snapping” a photo a day. I believe a plan is needed when considering a project, but then I base that on my short two week experience in doing the 30 Post 365 Project. In preparation, I read articles about doing 365′s, took a long time to really consider doing it (purpose, reasons, goals, etc.), and then planned, which included themes every week. No one should do one of these unless they are going to commit to using it as a tool to improve as a photographer.

    Again, thanks for quoting from my blog and for making the points that you did. They are worthy of note.

    Mike

  • http://www.gdanmitchell.com/ G Dan Mitchell

    Chuq, I don’t make a photo every day, but I do post photographs at a rate of one every day at my blog (http://www.gdanmitchell.com/) and I have been doing so for something like four years now. Really. ;-)

    I have to agree that it isn’t for everyone, and especially that trying to make a new photograph every day is a task that sounds more like a marathon than art. That said, some of the reasons that it works for me include:

    1. The notion of “practice,” which comes from my background in music. This serves – or _can_ serve – to keep your “chops” up – in other words to make the process of seeing and of using your gear and doing your post processing more intuitive, and freeing you to focus more on the subjects than on the technique.

    2. The idea that you can’t only make your greatest photographs. Frankly, most of our photographs are very poor, some smaller percentage are a bit interesting, fewer still are pretty decent, and a very small number might rise to whatever peak level we are capable of. For most of us, it is important to make a lot of exposures!

    That said, I will admit a few things about my process. I don’t literally “post” every day. I often have some photographs queued up ahead of time. I’ve had as many as a few weeks worth ready to go… but on one or two occasions I’ve actually had to go out and make a photo for that day’s post!

    Dan