I was planning to post an update on my photographic projects at the end of last month (I really was planning to...really...) but it seems time goes by quicker when your older (or I'm just not as efficient with my time as I used to be) and I missed my deadline. So before the entire year passes me by, here's an update on what I've been doing photographically since the beginning of the year.
One of the projects I set for myself was to create Christmas bokeh images for our 2014 Christmas cards...we usually don't send out Christmas cards each year, probably since we don't have any kids...but I thought it would be something different to do and a way to make my photography useful. Although I haven't created any images as yet, I did purchase a bunch of Christmas lights during the after Christmas sales and I came up with a kind of neat way to to hang them up as a backdrop for the bokeh images.
One of our cheapo floor lamps broke last month, but instead of throwing it away I decided to keep the parts...just in case...and found that the center rod of the lamp fits nicely into the holes on my plastic umbrella swivel brackets. With the umbrella swivel brackets mounted on some light stands I now have a make-shift backdrop support for the Christmas lights. Being frugal makes you creative...haha...anyway, this is what I've done so far with the Christmas card image project. I still have the rest of the year to actually create the images, so I'm not panicking...yet...procrastinators of the world, unite! Ha!
I also haven't printed anything yet, but that was contingent on me actually creating an image worth printing...and I'm still working on that. Plus it helps to actually be out there shooting so that I do have images to choose from...but thanks to a few colds and the flu I've missed a few weekends with dA Crazies. But this gave me time to start the thought process behind the creation of good images. Apparently a lot of thought actually goes into a good image and they rarely (if ever) happen by chance. So I've been trying to get used to the idea of thinking and planning my shots with the goal of creating a good image to print. One observation: Thinking hard about something is very tiring.
I also haven't begun to sell any of my images yet...but I did create an account on Fine Arts America, so that's a start. Still need to look into what is needed when selling photos...need to talk to our accountant about that one of these days. I know there are lots of articles on-line on how to sell your photos and such, so there is help and information out there...just need to make time to read and learn.
But I'm happy to say that I am currently doing a photography project, which was one of my resolutions, and I'm actually enjoying this one...it's the One Subject project where you take one subject and create 36 different images with it. I don't know if I was supposed to do them all in a day or a week, but I know that would be impossible for me so I haven't given myself a time limit (except to complete it by the end of the year). The subject I've chosen is my Silent Bob action figure and I've been shooting him whenever I come up with an idea for an image (which has been kinda fun and rewarding).
