Personal Projects. Important for All Creators.

I don't think there is anything as powerful as a personal project for a photographer,

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I have always loved image projects. I say “image” because sometimes it is not photography, but it is still visual.

Most of what I have created over the course of my life is visual. Even my music was composed with visual flair.

Orchestral score by your’s truly

(If ya’ll know a string quartet who may want to play a killer piece (it won the 1972 Contemporary Composition Contest in Arizona), let me know - I got the score.)

Most of the time I am working on some visual idea. It keeps me from getting bored and binge-watching The Mentalist for the third time. Hey, don’t judge.

Whether doing something locally or riding the bagger over 10,000+ foot passes in Wyoming, I am always thinking about a visual project or two. 

And I am never bored.

Sandstone Wall on the Moki Dugway. This incredible piece of historical road is quite a challenge on a big bike, but that is what makes it fun.

I love to put a box around the work I want to do. It helps me focus. You know, like when you're standing on an overlook atop Bear Tooth Pass, with the entire world in front of you, and you pull up that 35mm lens to put a frame around that one small part—the part where the glacier and water collide in brilliant, sky-reflected blue? 

It’s that frame.

“The box” is what I sometimes refer to it when I am chatting with my students.

“Put a box around the idea, and it becomes clearer.”

“I want to shoot waterfalls.”
Very broad.

“I want to shoot all the waterfalls in Kentucky.”
Nice box. What if you narrowed it to a specific county?

I want to shoot covered bridges.
Have you been to Madison County?

Cottonwood Pass, Colorado. Part of my Ride The American West project. My wife says it’s just an excuse to take the bike out on cooler summer roads. Maybe a bit of both… gotta be honest about it.

The frame gives me more focus. It’s like turning those bellows knobs as you stand behind the ground glass in breathless anticipation as the subject starts to get clearer and clearer.

Yeah, it’s like that.

That is what a project does for me. It’s probably similar for you.

A couple of reasons why I am so big on personal projects:

Experimental.

Unlike in high school, when the experiment goes south and you eventually learned the meaning of having your “record expunged”, photography projects rarely call for hostage negotiators or debriefings.

They are a playground for ideas, for challenges - you know, challenges. Stuff that’s fucking hard then gets a little easier as you keep trying to do it.

Like Illustrator.

Or “blend if”?

Relationships!!!???

Portfolio growth.

Adding to the portfolio is always a top priority for any visual artist. We are only as good as the portfolio we have, and we better have a good one because little Timmy over there just made an AI picture of a pink cow in a blue tutu eating french fries on the moon while standing on one leg and it’s glorious… or, you know, something,

The only people who can tell human visual stories are humans. (Yeah, I fully expect to be canceled by the “Non-Humans are Humans Too Coalition” folks. But since I rarely tweet, I’ll take my chances.)

There are professional reasons as well.

If you cannot engage clients with new work, you have no reason to keep engaging them. They don’t wanna see those same old car images for the third time, and really, dude, a 2020 KIA? They have seen that great toaster shot and marveled over the cherry on the fork image enough already.

Show ‘em something new, or leave them alone. 

They are busy trying to think about how to use the cow in the tutu pic in an ad for adult diapers.

I think the thing I love most about the projects I do, and see others do, is the amount of creativity that goes into them. Along with the perseverance, research, and in-depth visual presentations they create, we get to see the artist bringing forth something THEY are excited about.

You can learn a lot about photographers when you know what makes them excited to work.

I mentioned my motorcycle above. I also love the desert. I live in the desert, and I am always fascinated by its immense power and extreme fragility existing in some sort of symbiotic collective.

I am constantly riding and shooting in the deserts of the West, so I made a book of some of the quiet moments I saw whilst scootin’.

A spread from my book, “In Desert Stillness”

{In Desert Stillness}

Trees are another long-term passion. 

I love the extreme hierarchy of a tree. That huge trunk, limbs, and more limbs in a complex effort to support a tiny and delicate leaf… one that in turn supports the massive architecture of its own existence.

And trees are metaphorically interesting. At least they are to my lizard brain. 

Interesting trees get a snap. Perhaps a book, someday

Benson, Arizona. tree in a sea of concrete.

Those are long-term projects, and they sustain me for years in some cases.

Short-term projects can be as short as an hour spent on the porch with a few mushrooms, or a trio of pears. Most of my projects last for at least a couple of weeks unless there is some outside force that constricts them.

Shooting on my patio gives me a frame; I don’t have room for a lot, so I have to keep the setup simple. I love working with the constraints of that small area, and working around them is a challenge that keeps my brain sharp.

Unlike TikTok.

Pears. A one-hour project on the porch studio.

{Being Deliberate and Intentional with Your Photography}

Upcoming project:

I told you about the constraints of a frame, so this may make sense to you from that perspective. Time is not the frame; the place is.

I am going to ride the length of Highway 89. It goes from Ajo, Arizona, to the Canadian border near Carway. It is one of my favorite stretches of asphalt, and I want to ride the entire length of it. I am allowing three weeks for up and back, so I have plenty of time to meet people, make photographs, and take a few side roads - like through Yellowstone and Glacier.

Of course, this will take deep planning and meticulous attention to everything… or not. I rarely plan more than where I am going to sleep that night on these rides. Yes, Highway 89 will be the main road, but sometimes you see a patch of asphalt running up through some trees and think, “Oh, what the hell, let’s see what’s up there.”

The road is one of the places that lets me think better.

Road: Dixie National Forest, Utah.

{Some Scary Roads Have No Guard Rails...That's How It Works Making Art}

Now if you are thinking to yourself, “Hey, maybe I should get with this personal project thing Don is talking about," then I have some info to share.

Here’s the system I use:

1. Set a Goal or Objective… or not.

To get the most out of short-term projects, it's important to establish clear goals and objectives. Is it the sheer fun of making images of subjects you like? Or do you want to get into it to learn more about your own photography? I find I get really introspective when I am out on the road, and more intimately challenged, both compositionally and technically, on the tabletop. Sometimes I have no clear image in mind when I begin shooting and simply let the image reveal itself as I get more and more into the flow.

2. Create a Project Timeline… or maybe some other frame

Most of my short-term projects have a defined timeline or a defined expectation. My “one hour, one thing” shoots are a blast, limited by both selection and time. My motorcycle shoot-n-rides are usually framed by the areas I am going to. In that sense, time may not be that much of a factor.

4. Review, Edit, Know when you’re done… and when you aren’t

I like to finish things. Short-term projects feel more important when they are put into the “done and done” column. Whether it is one of my one-hour projects or a ride to the Canadian Border, there comes a point where I have to consider the piece finished.

What that looks like to me is when the final images are chosen for the project, and the prints are made. If it is a very short-term project that works. For the trip projects and longer, I will create a publication ranging from presentations or videos to PDF publications, to printed books. The lifetime projects like trees and deserts are simply ongoing adventures.

Hey, if you are doing a project at this point, let me know what it is. 

I would love to see your work.

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Upcoming workshops will be “Visual Storytelling” and “The Creative Class”. More on both of them soon.

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If you are thinking about a full-time creative gig, this mini-course should help you understand a bit about what you are getting into and how to fully prepare.