Back to basics

My active participation in photography has lapsed rather badly this year due, in part, to time restrictions, lack of inspiration and in many cases, plain laziness. There have been occasions where we've attended an event where my camera could have been put to good use but I decided not to. Some of these missed events I regret, but some I'm glad I didn't have to worry about dealing with a bag full of lenses.

My sporadic shooting has left me feeling like I can't really count it a real hobby at the moment. I've not had the time to put in the effort to learn something, in theory or in practice, and so my photos, at least to me, don't feel like they've progressed any further for over a year.

Today marks the beginning of another attempt at Project 50. I took part in it around the same time last year and looking back, there are some shots I really like and others I feel would have been better remaining unpublished. I think the lack of thought or direction led to some substandard shots and I really want to avoid it this time.

Last weekend I spent a bit of time getting reacquainted with some photography books to get back into the habit of thinking more photographically. My hiatus (of sorts) has also allowed me to take a step back and start from the beginning, act like I know little or nothing about my camera or how to use it and really spend the time carefully considering everything I shoot. As a result, I've decided to divide up the 50 day project into 5 subjects (obviously consisting of 10 photos each) all focussing on a particular area I wish to work on. The subjects are as follows:

Days 1 - 10 | Exposure

Really try to consider applying the camera settings for the right exposure and rely less on applying corrections in post.

Days 11 - 20 | Composition

Think more about how the eye moves around a shot and experiment with compositional dynamics.

Days 21 - 30 | Colour

Focus on how the use of colour for emphasis can be a focal point and lead the eye around a shot.

Days 31 - 40 | Black and White

Experiment shooting in black and white to better understand how to create interesting images without colour as a guide.

Days 41 - 50 | Bring it all together

The final ten days is a free-for-all applying anything and everything learnt from the last forty days.

So there you have it. I hope this will get me back into the habit of shooting again whilst broadening my knowledge of the subject. I'll be joining some fellow web folks who are also participating in Project 50 so keep an eye out for links to their shots on my Flickr stream.