So far the Project 365 experiment that I started in September has been a fabulous experience. However, in reviewing the photos I’ve taken so far, there are several things that I’m not entirely happy with. First, I’ve been having too much fun with effects instead of presenting images in a more straight forward manner. That is easily enough taken care of.
However, I’ve also been disappointed in my composition generally. Some of this has been due to the lack of time dedicated to taking some of these shots which is certainly a curse in projects like these. However, some of it is due to too many options for a simple guy like me. The current state of digital photography is a fabulous thing. With one shot, I can in post-production decide if I want the photo in color or B&W, apply dozens of filters, remove unwanted distractions and thousands of other options. However, personally this has led me to spend less time composing behind the camera and doing more work in digital post-production. However, the old rules of garbage in, garbage out still apply and this generally sloppy attitude has left me with more than a few shots that I’m not proud to post.
Thankfully, it was a pretty good year both personally and professionally, so I decided to give myself a little Christmas present in the form of a Fuji X100, a camera I am already deeply in love with. This camera takes all of the modern features of a digital camera and distills it into a rangefinder-esque form with dials in all the right places.
I figured with a simplified camera like this, maybe some other simplifications might help my process. So, for the time being I’m going back to shooting mostly in black and white for awhile. This will let me get my compositional eye back into shape.
As a start, here is a B&W photo essay on what was a long but wonderful Christmas for 2011 . . .
Photos Below:
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