The 365 Challenge : From a Wedding Photographer’s Perspective

For me…..2016 is all about change.  If we aren’t changing, and growing who we are then we are at a check-mate. Dead in the water, left clinging to the life raft and will never discover our true potential.

As we enter the new year, I have decided to embark on a challenge.  Something that will push me as an artist, and rediscover who I am at this moment.  I also want to grow my photography skills by trying new things.  Up to this point fear has kept me from pursuing this task.  Fear of failure.  Fear of not completing the challenge.  I want to change this.  Live fearlessly.  Embrace life and indulge in simple moments that pass us too quickly.

You may or may not have heard of the 365 Challenge.  What does this mean?  Each and every day you take a picture – There is a guide to follow for each day, the guides may vary depending on what you want to accomplish.  365 days?!  That’s a really long time to maintain focus {squirrel}!  I couldn’t imagine entering a challenge of this magnitude.  Setting myself up for failure is not an option.  That is the truth.  Sometimes the truth can be very scary when you face them head on.

After reflecting a little more upon this matter, I decided I would modify the 365  challenge to something more manageable. Behold the 52 week challenge. In this challenge I will be tackling a personal photo goal once a week.  Taking on a vision or new concept that I want to work on and going for it.  As Nike says:  “Just do it”.  My list is set, but not in stone.  There is room for modification as long as I pick up my camera and snap ‘that’ photo once a week.

My goal is to post once a week on Facebook.  Perhaps I will blog about the monthly topics so I have a place to display my vision in one place.  I guess time will tell.  Maybe I’ll discover new ways to consolidate & display this challenge — non-the-less I am sticking to my guns and pushing thru to completion.  As I said before failure is not an option and change is good, Right?

Week 1 was easy:  Resolution.
Many of us find it easy to say I’m going to do this; I’m giving up that as we roll into a new year.  Changing our ways but we quickly discover that change is difficult to enforce and we fall back into our patterned behavior.  The comfort zone.  The old adage says:  Old habits never die quickly.  There is wisdom & truth to those words.
I have accepted Resolution as a personal growth.  Instead of going cold-turkey on anything, I’m focusing on weekly change.  Baby steps.
What does Resolution mean?

Wikipedia defines this word as:

res·o·lu·tion     ˌrezəˈlo͞oSH(ə)n/    noun

WOW!  COOL!  SIMPLE??!   I can do this.
Week One I have discovered a new flame from within.  A desire to do more, dig deeper and re-discover.

Week 2: Self Image.
This task was a little more daunting.  A true Challenge.  Fear of stepping out from behind the camera into the spotlight of the lens.  Capturing who I am in this moment.
After much reflection on how to approach this challenge.  I realized it’s not as difficult and I made it out to be.  I can do this!!
I teach my clients to not fear the camera and it should be fun to have your picture taken.  By engaging into simple conversation and approaching imagery with a candid approach…..  HOW IN THE WORLD do I portray this when I’m alone?  Besides risking my sanity and talking to myself, laughing at my non-existent jokes? {Bwahaha}

Music.  It’s who I am.  Music touches my soul like non-other.  Speaks volumes to me, relaxes me in ways I can not describe.  I use music as my voice when I can not speak the words.
With week 2 I decided on a collection of images combined to present a more personal story.  My story, behind the hidden walls that I have built up around myself.  The song choice:  Beatles “Yesterday” speaks to me whenever I pick up my cello.  My go-to song when I am in a rut; When I need to internally reflect on an idea.  Although this project is not perfect and there is room for growth, I present Week 2: Self Image.