The Next Photo Project

It's been a while since I've dedicated time to a photo project and it's high time that I've done one.

I mean, the pandemic sort of got in the way and made me want to stick around home, so going out with my camera to capture strangers, or go to the same spot every day just wasn't in the cards for me.

If you're new to my blog since my last photo project, here is what you've missed:

• Bate Island Project: I worked in an office not far from the Champlain Bridge, and in 2013 I made a year-long commitment that, no matter how many times I crossed that bridge, no matter the weather, I would stop on Bate Island, stand in the same place with the same camera and lens, and take the same photo. The resulting video that I made even made it on to CBC News Ottawa. It was a good opening photo challenge for me, despite some of the creepy folks I encountered from time to time.

• Photo of the Day: I pledged to take a photo, every day, from January 1 to December 31, 2017. The challenge was that I could never take a photo of the same thing and that the photo had to be shot, processed, and posted on social media on that particular day. It was a lot harder than it seemed, especially when I took a week off to go to Cuba. I still shot and processed a new photo every day but Internet constraints meant that I couldn't post them until I returned home.

• Hog's Back Project: this was a once-a-week challenge but was similar to my Bate Island Project. I stood on the same spot and used the same camera and lens to capture the falls at Hogs Back. I could venture to this place more than once a week but I would only submit one photo (the best of the pick) each week.

• 
  100 Strangers: this was my most-challenging project but goes down as the best one. I'm incredibly shy around strangers, so going up to one was nerve-wracking, let alone asking the person if I could take a photograph and post it on social media. This project was delayed for several months while I gathered the nerve, and on the day that I started the project, it took me more than 10 minutes to get the courage to approach my first person. Thankfully, she and her friend were super-friendly and agreed. Subsequent outings for this project, which had to be completed within 100 days, got easier but I still needed to psyche myself up to approach the first person of the day. In the end, only about 20 percent of the people I approached declined to be photographed. I ended up with 102 willing subjects, but two of those photos didn't turn out: the photos weren't flattering to the person, and I didn't wish to share a photo that would make the person cringe. At the end of the project, I made a short video.
• Black-and-White Project: using an old Ricoh 35mm point-and-shoot camera and an old Canon digital point-and-shoot device, I captured 52 images and shared them for Photo Fridays in 2018.

So, what is my new project?

It's just in the planning stages but it's going to be another daily photo challenge. I'm thinking of starting a random project, based on the music that I love. Each morning, I will play a random song from my playlist on my smartphone. Whatever song comes up will inspire the theme of the day.

I will then have the day to consider how I will capture the theme in a single photograph. When my work day is done, I will head out with my camera to capture an image.

Geez... even writing out the plans for this photo challenge is stressing me out. Or is that excitement?

I don't know exactly when I will start this project. It might be this week, next month, or at the beginning of 2022. Stay tuned.