February 2008 Archives

I find it hard to free up time for photography.

I work a full time job from 9am to 5pm, then head straight home to help make dinner, spend a bit of time with the family, then help clean up and get my daughter to bed. My free time starts around 9pm, and I usually push myself to accomplish some personal goal before I pass out around midnight. Sometimes it seems like an accomplishment just taking some time for myself to not think about anything and simply relax.

So, one of the first thoughts that came across my mind when discovering SoFoBoMo was, "would I have enough time to do that? to create my own photo book in just one month?"

It's taken me three years to come up with the 21 photos that I feel worthy of posting online in my "Beginnings" series - and even then, I know that many of those images could be improved by taking more time in Photoshop. Of course, that never really solidified into a project until I started this website a few months ago. Up until then, they were just part of a large collection of raw photos sitting on my hard drive. My photography had no direction.

SoFoBoMo will be different though - my first real photography project with tangible goals. I'll be held accountable to produce good work within a set time - especially since it's something I'll be blogging about publicly.

For my project, I'll need to pick a series of photos that can be taken within my time constraints - which means either in my house at night or while out and about over a couple of weekends. Or, do I use this as an opportunity to take a vacation to some exotic locale for one week in April? Hmm ...

Now that I think about it, the first sentence I wrote isn't quite right (so I'll cross it out). It should be:

I need to pick specific goals in my photography, so that I can plan my time accordingly.

It's time to stop making excuses and start taking pictures.

Yesterday I came across something that has gotten me very excited about photography again. Started by Paul Butzi, SoFoBoMo (Solo Photo Book Month) is simply, in his words:

"for photographers who want to take a crack at putting together a solo photo book in one month"

The idea that Paul has presented, is that you make a commitment to take 35 or more photos within a month, and then create a book with them. The book can just be a nicely formatted PDF file - there's no need for a printed hard copy (although, you can do that if you like). You can start anytime from April 1, 2008 to May 1, 2008.

One of my favorite photo bloggers, Gordon McGregor, wrote an excellent post about SoFoBoMo. I like this part:

"Along the way you'll learn about editing your images - making those final painful choices on what to include or not. You'll probably learn a bit about book layout, design and what goes in to making a book. You'll find out how good you are at working to a deadline - or not. You'll actually finish something. That in particular is powerful stuff. It forces you to make decisions and live with them."

That's what this challenge is about. Learning and self-discovery. Not only will you learn through the very act of doing the work, but also by being engaged in a community of photographers who are all working towards the same goal: 1 book with 35 photos in 1 month.

Sign me up! I've needed something - a goal to work toward, some outside motivation - to help me push my photography to another level. So, I'll be participating and blogging about my experiences.

Here's a list of other SoFoBoMo bloggers.

My daughter is full blown toddler now. The baby fat is mostly gone, replaced by strong muscles and an even stronger sense of self. It constantly amazes me how much this kid talks - and even more so the deep meaning and level of reasoning behind her words. She is the constant debater and negotiator - producing rather convincing arguments on things like why she should be able to get the sugar coated vitamins rather than the plain ones.

I attribute her self confidence to a number of things: a mom who is equally confident, Montessori school and gymnastics - along with the fact that I was able to stay home with her for the first six months of her life, and her mom for the first two years.

Two of my wife's sisters are credited with starting the radical cheerleading movement (one of them is now a city commissioner). And so, while my daughter was still in the womb, I came up with a radical cheer of my own for her (my apologies to fans of the Flintstones):

"Tough like Bamm-Bamm, sweet like Pebbles, mess with me and you've got troubles."

It's a silly rhyme that didn't mean anything other than me wanting my daughter to be a strong and caring person. It looks like she's turning out to be exactly that, and I'm very proud of her.