Failed Projects and Creative Culls…

Noir Hotel Portrait – Taken on iPhone – October 25th 2015.

I hate admitting defeat. I hate giving up. But as far as my work goes if I feel something isn’t working or that something’s having a negative impact on my work I’ll always pull the proverbial plug. And that’s what I have to do here… The 365 Project just wasn’t for me. It’s changed the way I shoot – I shoot more, undoubtedly, but it wasn’t working. It just didn’t sync with my own creative process.

I don’t “share” photographs easily. I think about it and probably overthink it – before I post anything. This was my trouble with the 365 project. I went to Birmingham for a few days last week. I came back and there was about 5 photographs on my iPhone that I really liked and wanted to share. The trouble? I had to dwindle it down to 1. But then, the next day (I took a day off) I didn’t really have anything so I had to settle for some half arsed snapshot I went out to take. That’s the part that will never work for me. I feel it degrades the integrity of the photography. It’s sharing for the sake of sharing.

Ive changed the website to better reflect what I want to achieve. I want it to be a kind of photographic journal. The same kind of imagery; iPhone shots of things I see, concepts and portraits etc. But now I no longer feel restrained by the ‘what’ and ‘when’ I post. I still plan on updating the site frequently – at least 4-5 times per week but I’ll be a little more methodical with it. It will hopefully now be a site that I feel reflects me and my work.

Anyway, I’d love to get your thoughts on this, so please take a look at the site at: http://beebee-see.tumblr.com/

Audience Isn’t Important.

018/365 (Taken on iPhone) from Beebee365.

Blogging. I like blogging, I need to blog… But… I need to blog more…

I’ve always been someone that writes things down. I have kept a working journal of tech info and ideas since I first picked up a camera. I find it helps me. It helps me organize ideas in my mind, reflect on my work and helps with my creative workflow. But… I need to blog more…

Blogging… it’s important. But it’s difficult. Shoot, edit, meeting, shoot edit, meeting –  the days drift into weeks. As part of my 365 Project I’ve been keeping a journal each day. Just recording when and how I took the photograph and my feeling towards that days photograph. There’s every chance no one else will ever see these writings apart from me but they’ve been important. They’ve helped. They, at least for me, have given the project an extra significance.

On that note, I am very much enjoying the project and I’m experimenting a lot with it. It’s fun and it’s forcing me to think as I really don’t want to be repeating myself on there. I think it’s one of the few projects I’ve ever done where audience isn’t really important. If people want to look at the images and are interested in them, then great but it feels much more like a “self help” project. I needed it. I needed this project, and I needed it at this time. It’s a project about nothing else other than that “one” photograph. You take one and you really like it, but by the next day it’s already forgotten about. You have to move on, and you have to move on quickly. In contrast, you take one and you don’t like it, or feel you could have done something better. It’s okay because tomorrow is a new day. And with a new day comes a new photograph. It’s also quite possibly the only project I have ever done that has no end goal. None. Nothing. Just me and my camera. Usually I have to deliver a project to a client, a publisher a website or a magazine. With that comes added pressure. With this there are none of those things. No real pressure on anything other than to deliver one photograph each day – and surely that shouldn’t be a task for someone who lives and breaths to take photographs?

You can view the project here.

On a side note we have given the website Bro&Brew a face lift. I’m really proud of what the website has become. It’s now full of really talented and really amazing artists; Illustrators, photographers, musicians. It’s really cool so make sure you check it out and even submit some work if you fancy being a featured artist?

Blogging… I must blog more… I will blog more…

Previously on 365…

011/365 – Geisha.

So I am only day 12 into my 365 project and I have to say I’m finding it more difficult than I first considered… Although, I guess it’s inevitable, I’m really trying to stay away from “point and shoot” images. I’m doing my best to work on the photographs each day; come up with an idea and concept and shoot it. For obvious reasons – the main one being time – this is much easier said than done.

The image above was taken on my Pentax DSLR yesterday and it’s one of my favorite images of the project so far. It’s deliberately under exposed and shot on RAW as I wanted a dark, grungey and grainy effect for the shoot. For this image I just used one flash light to the side of the model.

I’m trying to be very varied in the photographs I’m shooting for the project – mixing up iPhone shots and DSLR shots.

However, make no mistake, even so early on I can see the benefits of this project. Even on days where I am full up with meetings and editing etc I’m still “forced” to shoot, and enter the creative process. I remain pretty determined to see the project through. Already there are some photographs I prefer to others which I guess is natural. On the flip side of that there are photographs I’ve taken for it that have really grown on me. I’m also keeping a journal and entering information each evening about that days photograph; just things like how I shot it, how I feel about it. I’m finding this very handy as it helps me keep track of what I’ve shot and what I need to focus on. It will also be a real benefit if I decide to publish this in print at any point.

You can see my 365 project at: http://beebee365.tumblr.com/

Thanks for reading.