365 Days of Photography Ahead of You – Photo Project Ideas for 2012 (Part 2 : Nature Photography)
In the first part we discussed a little bit about portraits and self-portraits and how those can make the subject of some wonderful photo project ideas for your 2012. However, some of us are more keen at looking at the timeless beauty of nature rather than having to ask people to pose for us. In this case, things get a little bit more complicated mostly because you will not always have a subject available for your photo shoots, not to mention that it gets a lot harder when you have a 9-to-5 job that barely allows you get out of the house, not to mention the city in the search for that beautiful landscape. Nevertheless, provided you have enough time and willingness, there are a lot of interesting projects you can take up in 2012 to build your portfolio or to just make your hobby a lot more interesting.
52 Photowalks – As you know, there are 365 days in the calendar, therefore 52 weeks. This project involved one photowalk per week. Most people will think of this as an incredibly tiring project since it means getting out somewhere every weekend and creating a small slideshow of that particular outing. Whereas this might not be feasible for a lot of people, for some, it might just be the challenge they need.
12 Locations – This one is a bit more on the lighter side, meaning that it will allow you to combine your travelling time with your hobby rather than just rush you through a million pictures. Basically, you have 12 months ahead of yourself to come up with some beautiful locations (they don’t have to be somewhere far, as long as they’re interesting enough to make a photo-project out of them) and photograph them like they have rarely been. This might allow you to spend more time in one single place and obtain those truly interesting pictures. You can consider doing a localized version of 12 Locations for your country and promoting its beauty. There are so many things you can do, that in the end, your own imagination is the limit.
365 Landscapes – This one is again, a little more difficult since it involved a lot of work, and a lot of travelling. It’s often difficult to scrape up 365 quality pictures even if we’re talking over an year especially if you’re the kind that has little if any time to truly travel. Not to mention that these landscapes need to be really interesting, not just train snapshots. The good news is that you can build this project over the year rather than with one picture per day. But that still requires a tremendous amount of work. But imagine at the end of the year the satisfaction of having done something so interesting.
In the end, it doesn’t matter that much how you play around with numbers and pictures, the point is to commit to a plan now, at the beginning of the year and to actually have it ready by the end of the year. Often enough it seems easy to commit to something and then just discard it, but think about it – both your hobby and your imagination could use a little push in the right direction. And there’s no better way to do this than using a photo project that’s at least a little bit demanding of you. Just make sure not to bite off more than you can chew.
