My 365-Day Photography Project - 9 Month Update

I’m back with an update on my year-long photography project shooting on half-frame cameras.

I’ve recently had some new rolls of film developed and scanned, and they forced me to reflect on not just my project, but on photography projects in general.

I made a video discussing the update, which you can watch here:

Context

Since the start of the year, I’ve been taking at least a few images every day on a half-frame camera. I began the project using the Kodak Ektar H35N then moved on to shooting a few rolls with my old Ricoh Auto Half SL. But ever since Pentax released the Pentax 17, it’s become my daily driver.

This project involves a random diptych generator I made for my website. It randomly selects two images from my entire collection and places them side by side. Every time you refresh the page or press a button, you get a new pairing.

So far, I have 1,116 photos scanned, which means there are over 622,000 possible combinations—or nearly 1,250,000 permutations.

I plan to publish this page at the beginning of next year when the project is done.

This project is mainly about documenting life.

Earlier this year, I welcomed a baby boy, and as we go on our morning and evening walks, I’ve been capturing our moments together. Many of my images are domestic in nature since I’m home taking care of him. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for picture-making.

As I’ve been reviewing my images, I’ve noticed a theme developing — long morning or evening shadows stretching across the streets and around the neighborhood, often featuring me and my son.

Interesting to Others?

Noticing a theme in the images prompted me think about the design vs discovery problem in long-form photography projects (books, exhibits, etc.). I wrote more about the discovery vs design photography problem here.

Anyway, I’m considering making a zine from this project. One challenge is figuring out how to present the project in a way that’s interesting to others, not just a collection of photos of my son and shadows.

Here I’m thinking about Deanna Dikeman’s Leaving and Waving. In this book, Dikeman presents a series of photographs of her parents waving goodbye to her as she leaves their residence. If you’re familiar with the book, you know that it is touching. Dikeman is not the only one leaving; her parents are not the only ones saying goodbye. The book hits hard, because it is about much more than her parents. It is about death, family, and memory presented in a way that is thoughtful and clear.

I enjoy personal photographic work that is clear and touches on universal themes. I think this is something that all post-documentary photographers should strive for.