Photo 150 - a yearlong photo challenge

ADub128 wrote: 10% in. All good for me so far. I definitely decided to take the easy route -- pick a topic Sunday night, take shots the following week. I have "cheated" in the sense that I will see something I will want to shoot for the following week in the current week, in one case grabbing that pic in the current week, finishing up my shots in the following week. For me, that's all good. I get some fresh air, keep using my gear. Pic-a-day shooting is just too much pressure for me, so I'm glad I crafted my Photo 150 the way I did. Flexible, and can be a little challenging at times. One goal, do not make this project a big chore. For the archive shots, it feels like I have an infinite supply of these shots that have never seen the light of day on the Internet. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to organize, catalog and keyword all of my images though. We just wrapped the Super Bowl here and I am always amazed that they can pull up highlights from other years so quickly. A team of people have basically cataloged every player and play out there. It's pretty incredible, actually. Keep going guys ... my theme for next week, boats!

Day 7 of the CYC got into the chore zone for me ... I couldn't NOT take the photo as I'm a purist and commit to these projects (and had already done 6/7 of the days). I challenged myself with one/two ideas and both failed. I don't agree with posting to the outtakes (as that is what the trash can is for) but I very very nearly did post two of my failed efforts there. So, after reviewing my 7th day shot on my production machine, I then picked the camera up again and made a new photo. In the end the 7th day shot is far better than the best of my failed earlier efforts. I pushed myself.

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ADub's point about the chore factor. That is a classic '365 quirk'. And crossing the line from fun and enjoyment and hobby into the commitment of the project. It is that point that will make people quit, stop, fail their 365. It also shows how a mini 365 (a 7-day project) is a nice trial for a 365. A good test to see if you can do it. But also, a 365 isn't about making 365 images fit to grace an art gallery wall. It is about seeing those weak days in the project. And for some even seeing the missed days.

Once you go through multiple days like this you get a little embarrassed by how poor your images are and you step up your game. For me 365s have always been about ONE image per day. And that selection process is part of the 'art'. Part of the challenge.

I've seen people enjoy 365s even while missing 10-20 frames through the year.
Percentage wise they are still living it. Life does after all get in the way sometimes. Making it non-kit specific also means you can grab your smart phone and shoot anything to cover that one day. I'm comfortable with posting snaps from my new-to-me iPhone.

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But Photo150 is a more rounded project than a 365. It isn't just about today (which a 365 is). I like the idea of a non-fixed theme. It pays to put some solid thinking into the topics to make up the 150.

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As for the wonders of the archive. The dreaded archive. The massive archive. Tagging - however you do it. It could lock you into an app that will later seek a rental payment from you for the rest of your life without discussing and agreeing to the terms. Or you can go off-line and use a notebook or a spreadsheet. But I think tagging is key. Having been burned by 3 web design tools that have gone out of business and the obvious and well known devil of former market leading photo apps rental program, I've voted to take back control. Spreadsheet and filing and website will replace the programs and cost me next to nothing (per month). I'll spend the devil's $10/mo on something enjoyable instead, something I can stop at any time without losing access to my catalog.

I used to 2-3-4-5 star my images. For example:
2 = a reminder, a note, something to re-try, to re-shoot
3 = might be good enough for a non-photo blog post
4 = edit it see if I like it
5 = publish it
After a shoot maybe a few images got to 4 star ... then one would get to 5 star and I'd delete the other 4-stars once done. So I'd end up with a bunch of 2/3/5 starred images. This is of course just one way to manage this.

My archive project is now about something else. It is publish or delete.

It's been a challenge for me, fun but definitely a kick in the butt to clean stuff up, and to take photos.

Although we don't have a "real lockdown" here in Southern California, my wife and I just stay put, we don't mess around and we don't go out except for essentials. This year, luckily coinciding with this challenge, we'd started to go out on the weekends on off road 4x4 road trips which has been a welcome reprieve. We are very outdoor people so the staying in has sucked.

That being said, because I'm driving and focusing on the trail, my vehicle, safety, etc, it's been a challenge to take a keeper. My thought of using a prime was a focus to get more use of my lovely CZ 55mm but now I'm thinking I should have left that open and I could have shot the a700 with a tele while in the car to get some mobile shots.

Also, thanks to some discussion here, the challenge, and a gifted go pro, I've started to shoot some video. That was not intended :-)


Finally, getting back on dyxum and seeing everyone shoot and post, has been to say the least, amazingly inspiring!

Hope everyone keeps up and keeps going!

Well, this week I finally dusted off the old scanner (literally dusted it off) and scanned an old roll of film from 2014.


Thanks to this challenge I also cracked open the a100 for some prime IR shots that I haven't done in forever and last week played with some smoke shots that was the first time I felt that creative juice take over in a long time.

ADub128 wrote: Nice, Eddy ... it's good to have a little peer pressure from time to time. A100!!

Sometimes it's needed. lol But it's been fun too.

Ok, I think I'm going to have to revise things a bit until the end of May.
The project I'm on at work is basically consuming 6 days a week, plus extra hours each regular work day.

It will be coming to an end, but my photography time is pretty moot. So, until this project is completed, I will be meeting my 150 challenge via archive shots. That should leave many more months to up the new photos.

Cannot believe that I've just posted week 12!

Finaly got some more feeling for longer focal lenghts thnx to this challenge.
The creative project realy puches me to go out and 'catch' anything at all.
Streets-shot are soothing my wandering soul during an (seeming) never-ending lockdown

I think it's working great for me so far, only a pity that our great inspirator dCap seems to have bailed out

All my three projects are helping me and enjoyable

I especially like the weeks I have no prime and comitted to a shot somewhere in a zoom range. Somehow I'm using that as an exercise to be much more careful with framing and avoid distractions at the edges.

The vintage digital macro is a blast, Especially the challenge to manually focus in the dim viewfinder of my KM5D is sometimes a challenge but when you hit it right the files are easy to work with and have great colours. The A700 is much easier to work with but the files are a bit harsher, which is not always what I want in my macros.

And the dig in the archive gives me a good look at all the junk I kept, sometimes there's something overlooked that's postable but there's some candidates selected for the wastebasket as well. At this moment they just get a black flag, but after some time they will all be permanently deleted.

All in all, I'm happy and find it relatively easy to keep up.