are you staying on course and if not, do you care ?

removed account4 · Feb 14, 2020

over the years i have had the luxury of taking my time with long term, long range, no end on the horizon photo projects. sometimes i stay on course, so the project is coherent, and if i go off course i sometimes try to scarf a 2x4 to the split beam and keep going the way i was going. sometimes i meander and the whole project changes, everything became something different.
when you are in project mode do you allow yourself to have guard rails, do your projects need them? and if not do you give yourself enough room to graze and nourish your project and allow it to change, and if not why ? do you even have a project or do you just photograph whatever and whenever ... ?

jtk · Feb 14, 2020

My impression is that jnantz and his jnanian twin have been remarkably good at pursuing aesthetic/concept courses.

Me, I wander and explore, sometimes too long, between projects. I wouldn't have pursued photo for so many decades but for projects.

peter k. · Feb 14, 2020

jnantz said:
when you are in project mode do you allow yourself to have guard rails, do your projects need them?

At the beginning, need the guard rails on some projects, that's why its a project! But as time goes by, and not getting what we visioned, then we become freer. One shot we been trying to get with clouds in the background, sill has that specific area, angle and time of day left, but not as a primary target anymore. ;-) It will come when it will come.

jnantz said:
do you give yourself enough room to graze and nourish your project and allow it to change

When its not a project and just a thought of a particular area we would like to take a shot of, we go to that area, with the original thought of a shot in mind, sit down, and become quiet for a while. Looking around and becoming within that area. Then most often, the concept has dissolved into "Oh my goodness... look at that!!!!"

jnantz said:

do you just photograph whatever and whenever ...

Click to expand...

Rarely

mooseontheloose · Feb 14, 2020

I have a couple of long-term, ongoing projects. Although the initial ideas for both has expanded and become looser in scope, they're still ‘within the guardrails’, to use your metaphor. Maybe because I’m open to shooting anything and everything the rest of the time, it allows me to keep the focus on these projects.

Luckless · Feb 14, 2020

I allow my photo projects to remain rather organic in nature. They will grow or wither as the project goes on, spawn new projects with potential overlap.

Some projects will end up acknowledged as going no where, or prove uninteresting as I get deeper into their development, so they'll get dropped to the back of the queue.

I maintain project notes, and will revisit things on a regular basis. Good things I like and am making progress on rise to the top, the rest is allowed to sink and eventually be forgotten.

I'm in my mid 30s, so I can still claim to be young, and photography is more 'stress relief therapy' from a day job in the software industry than anything else, so I have the luxury of not really facing any pressure or demands with regards to my work. This has however led to a huge backlog of rolls of film waiting to be developed, let alone prints... Which I should probably address at some point...

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 14, 2020

On and off course.

Sirius Glass · Feb 14, 2020

I have projects that I dive into that are in photography or out, and generally I stay on course until I complete the goal. Sometimes I set a project aside and come back later.

awty · Feb 14, 2020

My set project has never changed, I want some nice pictures to hang on the lounge room wall. From the start I figured it would take me 5-10 years (usually my hobby attention span) to do, been going 3 1/2 years now. I like being like a leaf floating down a stream, exploring little eddies along the way but the end goal is to reach the deep blue sea.......and sink to the bottom and into obscurity.

Renato Tonelli · Feb 14, 2020

The projects gets better when I take my time, set it aside and get back to it months or years later; sometimes I lose interest in it altogether. It’s OK.

Ariston · Feb 14, 2020

Hi John - I don't have any projects, but I have a list of individual photos I intend to take, but have to wait until I have time, or some other reason.

There is one that I have been waiting for a foggy day to take, and finally got to take a couple days ago. I just developed them, and the negatives are disappointing. I wanted a different composition, but am limited by the subject's surroundings. I have waited a long time to get this photo, and now I am going to have to figure something else out, so that the next time the conditions are right, I can hopefully get a photo I like. I guess that means I am off course, because I have to take another approach.

I am not even sure that another approach exists. I may have to settle for what I got, but we'll see. Either way, like you, I have plenty of time so I am not rushing it.

I like the question.

jtk · Feb 15, 2020

For me "project" means extended work (or thought, I guess) over time.

Starting to make a digital pano from a damaged early 1900s pano...have stored a one foot X 5 foot 1920 gelatin silver pano for around 40 years (bought from a gas station)...will shoot the files, splice the pano, and extensively retouch/repair the damage in the original. I'm sure it'll work beautifully but it'll take a LOT of time. Easier challenges include holding the original flat-enough and lighting evenly enough. I do see this as a for-profit (Ebay) photo project.

I loved working commercially...the teamwork with art directors etc contributed to the fun...

Alan Edward Klein · Feb 15, 2020

My plan is to get off these forums and take more pictures.

radiant · Feb 15, 2020

awty said:
My set project has never changed, I want some nice pictures to hang on the lounge room wall.

This is my project too. Well maybe not a project but a really good way to test if the picture is good enough. So far the wall is empty. When I realized that this is a good goal, I started to see my work better.

I finally found one project idea but I'm not sure if it is a "project" or way to photograph. How do you guys come up with projects?

Bob Carnie · Feb 15, 2020

John and I have been friends here for many many years, he always seems to be on course from what I can see,
For myself I am in the transition stage from professional printer for others to photographic artist making a living from my personal work, I think the transition will take me another 5 years but I have been on this course since 2002 when I started solarizing all my work , BW and Colour,
With the equipment that I have been blessed to own I have pushed a few boundaries and now I feel I am about to push more. I am going to Solarize digital files off my Lambda in Red Safelight and then make silver manipulation negatives to go with this solarized master negative. I feel I am well situated to do this and this will be part of my new but ongoing photo push. Think multiple printing using silver enlarged film rather than inkjet and you may get the idea.

eddie · Feb 15, 2020

jnantz said:
when you are in project mode do you allow yourself to have guard rails, do your projects need them?

If it's some sort of documentary project, there are guard rails. If it's a more creative project, careening out of control can take me to more interesting places.

rorye · Feb 15, 2020

I'm often stifled by guars rails of my own making and long for the mental style of being looser. But all in all I'm happy with the results of my projects.

awty · Feb 15, 2020

vedostuu said:
This is my project too. Well maybe not a project but a really good way to test if the picture is good enough. So far the wall is empty. When I realized that this is a good goal, I started to see my work better.

I finally found one project idea but I'm not sure if it is a "project" or way to photograph. How do you guys come up with projects?

I have filled up the toilet with pictures, part way through the laundry, have about a dozen prints to frame (hate that part), but will have enough to put up in the kitchen. I have the prime position opposite the toilet on high rotation to ponder how I could do better.
Have many projects going on in my head, unfortunately my capabilities get in the way of my probabilities. Experience takes time and a lot of work.
Like people making their own art for themselves, satisfying yourself is the most important aspect, if others like as well then thats a bonus.

Pentode · Feb 16, 2020

No real projects, per se, but I have recurring themes that I return to a lot. So I guess I’m on and off course. I still revisit themes from 25 years ago but I get distracted from them easily and often.

BSP · Feb 16, 2020

Life is my "photo project". It has the required beginning and ending.
The in-between-part is what makes it interesting and keeps me on track to completion.

guangong · Feb 16, 2020

Sometimes one should stay on course, other times the only thing to do is abandon ship. A project may seem to be feasible or really interesting, but then either not workable in real world with equipment at hand, or the project can often lead to an even better idea. There is no glory in single minded determination no matter what nor in being scatter brained and unfocused.
I have a number of great ideas for shooting a film all worked out in my head. All I need is a camera on a boom, a dolly on rails, etc., ...so much for dreams!
I have finished writing a book. Put it aside for slightly over a year. Not satisfied. Needs to be reorganized and much to be rewritten. Such is life.

eddie · Feb 16, 2020

In terms of projects, tunnel vision can retard the growth of the project, and your growth as an artist.

jtk · Feb 16, 2020

Lots of amusing avoidance of the meaning of "project" here.

Philosophy is mostly an alibi.

I think "project" implies focused effort over time...not just more of same with occasional variations.

In addition to the money-grubbing pano project described above (just beginning, I'm printing 6 sets of about twenty mostly Kodachromes in order to bind family together. Weeks. Half done.

removed account4 · Feb 16, 2020

great responses ! its always fun to hear how people work, and inspiration to keep chugging along..

Ariston said:
Hi John - I don't have any projects, but I have a list of individual photos I intend to take, but have to wait until I have time, or some other reason.

There is one that I have been waiting for a foggy day to take, and finally got to take a couple days ago. I just developed them, and the negatives are disappointing. I wanted a different composition, but am limited by the subject's surroundings. I have waited a long time to get this photo, and now I am going to have to figure something else out, so that the next time the conditions are right, I can hopefully get a photo I like. I guess that means I am off course, because I have to take another approach.

I am not even sure that another approach exists. I may have to settle for what I got, but we'll see. Either way, like you, I have plenty of time so I am not rushing it.

I like the question.

hey ariston ...

naaah i don't think you are off course at all ! the way i see things is that it's an idea, it might not work out, adjust and rework and try again, and it might work a little bit better and then continue until it works the way one is satisfied... that sets the stage for maybe more photographs in the same vein, because in one's trials and figuring outs one see other things that might relate, if not through the same photographic mode maybe they relate in another way. OR it gives the experience to be able to solve the same ( or related ) problem down the road ... IDK im a tinkerer at heart so i tinker, and if i can't repeat it, that's OK... singular images sounds like a great project to me fog is good, and really hard to photograph and print !
==
jtk
sounds like fun stuff you are doing, i wouldn't say money grubbing panos, but i'd say panos "on spec" .. its nice to get compensation for one's efforts once in a while

Alan Edward Klein · Feb 16, 2020

Before planning to put all those pictures up on the walls, you ought to ask your wife what she thinks. .

awty · Feb 16, 2020

Alan Edward Klein said:
Before planning to put all those pictures up on the walls, you ought to ask your wife what she thinks. .

Well, I repainted the interior about 6 years ago, bought a whole heap of frames and vouchers to get some prints done gave them to her on her birthday. The frames still lay behind lounge empty and the vouchers are lost, so there for I have the right to put up whatever I like. She will just have to put up with my monotone picture making project......and why wouldn't she, they are beautiful like she.

are you staying on course and if not, do you care ?

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