Growing With a Personal Project


I've often heard the suggestion of taking on a personal project - something different than what you are currently working on - something that will challenge you as a photographer and help you to grow.  A few years back I did a "365" project - that was posting a photo a day for a full year. I really believe that I become more creative that year - it forced me to think outside the box to try and come up with new images that might entertain my followers... and I did gain some new followers.

Last October, a speaker at one of the photo clubs I attend, North Austin Pfotographic Society (NAPFs), spoke about and shared his composite images which were totally awesome. So much so that the speaker, Kirk Marsh, just won the Photoshop User Guru of the Year 2018
award.  (check him out, his work is awesome!) I was intrigued and set out to try learning more about composites and portraying myself differently in "selfies" since I am the only model I have readily available.

I have NOT mastered composites. I love them, but don't know that I will ever master them - they do take a whole lot of work, knowledge and creativity.  But I have managed to post a different kind of self-portrait every Friday on my Instagram account @chrisdaviscina. 

This was my very first one which I call "No Way Will I Meet My Deadline".
It managed to pass the composite test but it really is rather lame.
This is one that has no composite element but shows me playing with a speedlight - something I try hard to do with my subjects but not as easy as I thought to focus on myself and get the light right on my face.
 Suffice it to say, I tend to go into a panic every Thursday as I realize I need something new to post the following day.  That's where my growth has come in. I'm no longer too vain to be seen with curlers in my hair, or on a treadmill, or fighting off the urge to eat candy.  I even learned to do multiple exposures. 



Now that I'm writing all of this, I realize I should compile those crazy photos and darn it, it's Thursday....I've got to come up with something for tomorrow!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cead Mile Failte Ireland

Image
That means 1,000 welcomes in Gaelic and we really did feel welcomed! Ireland greeted us with sunny, warm weather, very unlike what we had been prepared for. I was looking forward to a cold, foggy trip to the Cliffs of Moher – thought that would make great photography – but as we approached it, we found ourselves shedding layers and were quite surprised, and challenged, to discover bright sunlight displaying the cliffs to us in all of their glory. I set the tripod up and attempted a panoramic view. Don’t think I captured it, in it’s noontime sunlit glory, but it we did witness a spectacular vista. We drove on, frustrated by the roads. Driving was more challenging than we had ever anticipated. We were prepared for the left side of the road challenge and even the perplexity of the left side driver’s seat. We’ve both driven stick shifts, albeit not on the left, but the twisty windy roads that weren’t wide enough for the traffic…and ongoing, constant impatient cars behind us really made
Read more

Day Trip with my Daughter

Image
Between Covid 19 and moving from Texas to Maryland, I really haven't seen much of the world this year and that is hard on this travel-loving girl.  Here I am living an hour away from Baltimore and Washington, DC and we are stuck in an unending state of quarantine.  I needed to break out so I asked my daughter if she'd take an early morning trip to Annapolis with me. "How early?" she wanted to know. She is not normally a photographer and, with two young children, unaccustomed to our "pre-dawn" starts.  "As early as you can," I tried and she and the kids showed up slightly after 7 am.  Popsie stayed with the kids who grumbled that they just wanted to go back to sleep, but Nova was game for a new adventure and we happily drove 35 minute southeast to the beautiful city of Annapolis.  Court house showed some signs of life. Mask covered guards stood at the door. Maryland's capital city, located on the Chesapeake Bay is a lovely, his
Read more

Getting Out and Shooting Again

Image
Whew. This has been some year. Not only are we all dealing with Covid 19 which has forced us indoors, but we made a cross-country move in May from Austin, Texas to Columbia, Maryland.  As a friend reminded me, we were lucky that we were so all-consumed by the move and didn't obsess on the world's problems.  But as a photographer who loves traveling and documenting the beautiful world around us, I was getting extremely antsy. So, last week I woke up early and took a trip to beautiful downtown historic Ellicott City.  I had actually lived in this same neck of the woods 40 years ago and I knew that Old Ellicott City had a charm that includes history, art and architecture, nature and food.  The streets are hilly but you never know what kind of cool shop you'll stumble upon. I am just dying to explore this cool, old Fireman's museum.  There is also the oldest surviving train station that I'm dying to share with my grandsons.  And oh, I had forgotten how much
Read more