A new goal...

The other night I had a long talk with a friend I haven't seen or heard from in about 15 years. (wow, I feel old) In the course of our discussion, she told me about the blog she started to chronicle her life and challenges raising two young boys with Down Syndrome. Head over here to read her adventures.

She told me that her goal is to try and reach out to others who are going through similar challenges and offer hope and understanding. She also said that the biggest challenge is figuring out what to post when everything seems so boring and uninteresting to her.

In an effort to inspire her to post something more often, I am resurrecting a project I had started while still a student at Hallmark. Only now, I will be sharing the images I create with the readers of this blog. Here is an outline of said project...

I will challenge myself to create one image each day. But, there are criteria to how that image can be created.

1. I must not manipulate any items to create a pleasing composition. All images must be of items exactly as I find them. The purpose of this is to make myself better at composing images in the camera.

2. The image must be obtained in no more than 5 attempts. Exposure adjustments and angle tweaking must be done in less than five attempts. If an acceptable image cannot be obtained, then the day is a failure and no more attempts can be made until the following day. This will also help me to improve my skill at finding compositions and ensuring proper exposure.

3. The only things permitted in photoshop will be white balance and maybe a conversion to b+w or platinum process. (sort of a sepia look) The only other thing that photoshop will be used for will be resizing the raw image and saving as a jpeg. (so it can be posted online)

4. Images will be created wherever I may be on that day. This will allow me to keep up with the plan weather I'm at home, on the road, at a show, etc...

5. In the event of a failure, the five attempts will be posted on here for discussion. Yes, I will share my shame as well as my successes.

Here's a link to the images created in the original Apartment Project.


Now, to start things off I will show the three styles I might choose for the final image.

Color:


Black and White:


Platinum:


Now, do you folks think this is a good idea? Or do you feel I should choose one style and use it for every image? (Color, b+w, platinum)