In the photography world, there are several popular ways to keep your work fresh, your creative juices flowing, and skill set growing. One of these ways is Project 52. Stemming from Project 365, where you take a picture every day for one year, Project 52 requires one picture a week. I am excited to have signed on to take one picture every week in 2011! I am really looking forward to trying out some new ideas and lighting styles. I’ll post my weekly picture here on my blog and on Facebook (you can ‘like’ me in the pull-out tab on the left).
I have also joined forces with MCP Actions and a team of photographers (2,000 and still growing!) who are committed to Project 52. MCP Actions provides a theme for every week and photographers share their work through Flikr. It’s a wonderful way to gain inspiration! And, it’s been a long time coming, but now I finally have a Flikr account.
If you want to keep up with my Project 52 through pictures (plus some of my favorite images), you can check out my Shinn Shots Photography Flikr page.
You can also check back with this blog page. I will add my weekly pictures below along with any stories behind them.
These pictures are not necessarily representative of my “client” work. With this weekly project, I am striving to try new ideas and to think outside the box. I hope you enjoy them as much as I am enjoying the creative process!
March 2011 – 12/52
We got a taste of spring here in the South for about a week and a half. This week it was replaced with cold rain. Additionally, my kiddo came down with some sort of sickness that has involved fever, lots of green snot, and a terrible cough. I figured if we couldn’t enjoy the outside, we can make it spring inside!
This concept was so good for me. I colored my heart out on my big blank white piece of paper. I’m usually very OCD about details being exactly right…it was wonderful to just doodle and accept it for what it was. My art skills are terrible, but my kiddo and I had a great time putting it all together. I’d say the whole thing fits the theme “Just For Fun”
Title: Spring Colors
Theme: Just For Fun!
March 2011 – 11/52
The theme this week was “From the jewelry box.” This Christmas, my husband gave me my first gift of jewelry since he gave me my wedding ring six years ago. Seemed like a worthwhile thing to commemorate, albeit in a funky way! Only problem is, I don’t know what to call it
Title: Untitled
Theme: From the Jewelry Box
March 2011 – 10/52
For some reason I can’t explain, I love photographing shoes. For this week’s picture, I decided to use my new favorite shoes as my subject. I adore these shoes! I put on my pink plaid Keds and it makes me walk a little higher and smile a little bigger. Yay for springtime shoes!
Title: Some Spring in My Step
Theme: Darks and Lights
March 2011 – 9/52
(Check out my blog post to see what this means!)
This was so much fun to put together! I had penguin’s camera when I was a kid and the penguin belongs to my daughter. It’s absolutely perfect that his belly shows photos! Look closely and you’ll see that the bears get to preview their photos as penguin takes them. I wish I could do that!
Title: Now Everybody Sit Still…
Theme: Childhood Toys
March 2011 – 8/52
I thought I’d use a picture from my photo shoot this week. The theme this week was “Express Yourself.” This seemed to fit the bill!
Title: First Time Sledding
Theme: Express Yourself
February 2011 – 7/52
I managed to make it through another decade of my life last weekend. What better way to celebrate my birthday than by taking a weekend away with my sister! She did admit that I was a little crazy for turning our hotel room into a photo studio…but she went along with it. (It was my birthday, afterall.) We had a fabulous time singing, dancing, and snapping the shutter with a remote control.
I wish everyone could be so lucky as to have a sibling they couldn’t imagine their life without.
Title: Sisterly Love
Theme: Open Your Heart
February 2011 – 6/52
A close friend of mine handed down a bunch of her kids’ things that they didn’t need anymore. The set of dance shoes was the only thing she was a bit sad over. “It has all their names on those sweet little shoes.”
Sometimes it is so hard to remember that the days are long, but the years are short.
Title: The Rhythm of the Years
Theme: Words
I didn’t quite make it in time for week 6, but I just couldn’t pass up the chance to photograph the ballet shoes too! Here’s a 6.5 midweek photograph.
Title: Pink Slippers
February 2011 – 5/52
This week, I took a step back into my comfort zone. We were traveling this week, which always gives me more time to photograph the people I love. This week’s theme was “Muse.” She is my muse, and the world is her’s.
I think I may have a new favorite picture.
Title: Watching Cars Go By
Theme: Muse
January 2011 – 4/52
This week’s theme was “soothing repetition.” After perusing some images that had already been submitted and seeing picture after picture of musical instruments, food, drink, and landscapes, I decided to approach the theme from a new angle. It may be a little rough for the theme, but I would certainly find pounding on my computer to be a soothing repetition now and then!
Title: I’m Gonna Have to Pound on You Just a Little Bit
Theme: Soothing Repetition
January 2011 – 3/52
Are you ready to go deep?
With a degree in Sociology, I have always been fascinated by people our understanding of the world around us. I learned quite a few interesting theories in undergrad and several more from my grad school Sociology class. Dr. Kenneth Allan taught my grad school Soc. class, and also wrote the book that we used. (Usually, this isn’t a good thing, but Dr. Allan was especially good at communicating in a way that was familiar, relaxed, and clear.) There was one theory in particular that Dr. Allan presented to me in a new way, and it has stuck with me ever since.
Anthony Giddens proposes something called Structuration Theory. In it, he suggests that…well, I’ll just use Ken’s words:
It’s like the chicken and egg question. In some ways it’s a silly question. When you have the egg, you have the chicken. They are one in the same, just in different phases. So, it’s a bit like this: [people] produce social reality, but the mere fact that you have “[people]” presumes an already existing social world.
From: Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory: Visualizing Social Worlds
The example that was used in class was this: Two people get into a car accident. One person believes that her life has been spared for a reason. The other believes her safety is a result of happen-stance. The social world has influenced each to feel this way, and in their own different understanding of the same situation, they reinforce what they already believed, and therefore reinforce the existing social world that led them to those beliefs to begin with.
The concept that has stayed with me for 4 years now is that how I perceive the world only reinforces the understandings I already had about it. What you understand as “reality” only exists because you make it so.
Funny how little things you learn can stay with you for so long! Well, in my new career as a photographer, I am finding many “old” ideas that push me to make all kinds of new creative photographs. The theory I just described was my inspiration for this week’s photo.
Thank you for indulging a digression into my previous academic life. And, kudos to you if you made it all the way through the post to this image!
Title: Reality is Never Black and White
Theme: Shades of Gray
January 2011 – 2/52
Boy, did I have some fun getting this shot. I tried a lot of different poses…A LOT, but I decided that this was my favorite:
Title: Four Eyes
Theme: Illustrate a Song
Song Illustrated: “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
January 2011 – 1/52
Title: The Dishwasher
Theme: Around the House
Don’t worry – I made most of the mess myself. It wasn’t really that bad! My bet is that you’ll be seeing a lot of me in this Project 52. I am my most willing subject!
Happy first week of 2011!
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