A note to Project 52er's

[Andrew1]

I am not a participant in your Project 52. I look at all the photos you submit, the follow-up comments and the improvements made through your discussions. I just wanted to pass along a thanks to all of you for the effort you put in to keeping this project going. I suspect there are more than just me sitting quietly on the sidelines learning from your experiences. Thanks again and keep it up.

[ktuli]

No one says you can't join in late...

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Appreciate the sentiment Andrew - and probably timely to. I think a number of the Project 52er's are beginning to struggle to keep up - myself included! Knowing that others are learning from the Projects will hopefully motivate the current participants to keep their threads alive. And of course, as Bill mentioned, anyone can start one up at any time

[SpiderBob]

I must admit, it is a struggle. Doing this (project 52) I seem to have no time for placing other pictures I would otherwise take in color and post. Heck, I feel bad I don't even have time to go through all the current posters. Not trying to make an excuse, just saying this takes a lot of time. But it is a learning experience for me as well, and if it is helping others, then just perhaps it is all worth it even more. I think I need to go find my next image
Thanks Andrew

[gregj1763]

Hi all,
Every week I'm looking for something different to photograph or at least photograph something in a different way.
Just by looking at the others photo's gives me ideas and challenges me to improve.
Project 52 is a great concept and I appreciate all the comments and advice I get from the other forum members.
It is a challenge but well worth the effort so if anyone is thinking of joining in, now is the time.
Cheers Greg.

[Ricco]

Andrew - thanks for the support.

I have personnaly found it pretty rewarding. I have taken photos that I otherwise would not have taken and tried techniques that I would never have tried before and the output is that I am learning more by the week. I have actually surprised myself with some of the shots that I have done.

I also underestimated how hard it would be to keep up and on the same token it has occurred to me how few photos I was actually posting before.

I also look at all other threads and find it great to see what others are doing.

I'd encourage yourself and anyone else out there to join in. If you want a challenge and want to learn then it is a good thing. There is no rule as to when you should have started (in fact if you go back to the original threads, there are no rules at all!).

[whited3]

Thanks Andrew.

I've given up on "taking and posting" every week as I just don't have the time or inspiration. So I'm cheating and doubling up every two weeks or so. I think perhaps I've set myself too hard a task with "50mm" as I don't have the imagination to think of shots; I have to stumble across them

[Geoff F]

Soon, when the glorious English Summer arrives, and we see the end of all this gloom and drizzle it will become, hopefully, much easier to find one photo per week.

At the moment, it can be a bit of a challenge; which is likely to increase for those from the antipodes over the same period.

So do I shoot specifically for this project? Well at the moment I do sometimes go out with 'I must find a suitable shot' in my mind. And while it can be good to push oneself a little bit further in the pursuit of perfection. I feel there is a risk that a requirement to produce a perfect photo every week could induce the sort of stress which photography as a hobby is supposed to prevent.

Therefore, I am attempting to provide an interesting weekly image rather than something technically stupendous everytime.

So I suggest that a few 'I made a right 'pigs ear' of this one didn't I' shots with explanations of the intentions will be a good learning experience for everyone. Like many contributors are already posting.

At the moment, I have one like that in my Project 52 reserve bag for posting in a couple of days time, unless I change my mind; which often happens.

[ktuli]

You're funny Geoff! I haven't taken a perfect photo in my lifetime, let alone for this Project 52. I think every one of my P52 posts have been a '... and this is what I learned from this attempt' kind of post. A couple of them have been rather experimental attempts that I may not have ever tried without this project (ie: my bird feather and toothbrush super macro experiments), so that alone is valuable to me. So while I won't necessarily be planning each week's photo for my P52, I certainly have been and will continue to use it as a way to push myself into new areas and learn new things.

But if I do get a perfect photo, I'll be sure to let you know... or considering I probably wouldn't know it when I saw it, will someone else please let me know that I got one?

- Bill

[Teton Chuck]

Andrew, thanks for the note. I too browse the blog, learning from the photos that are posted and the comments that are given. I consider myself a novice photographer, and as such I hesitate to give very much input to others. Perhaps I will learn enough from Project 52 and other interactions on CIC to feel I can be helpful some time in the future.

Project 52 is very important to me, and has already been helpful. I find myself looking for photographic opportunities that I did not consider in the past. In addition I set a goal for a specific subject each week. I find that this approach helps me work on the planning aspect of taking pictures as well as working to get control of the technical parts, composition, etc.

Do consider joining the project. Just do it at a level that matches your available time so it remains enjoyable.

chuck

[Letrow]

I've given up on "taking and posting" every week as I just don't have the time or inspiration. So I'm cheating and doubling up every two weeks or so. I think perhaps I've set myself too hard a task with "50mm" as I don't have the imagination to think of shots; I have to stumble across them

It is a struggle to find something every week, but I think Mark said it very well: it feels as if you have to stumble across something good to get inspiration sometimes.

But I am also thinking that forcing yourself to come up with a shot every week may get you out of your comfort zone. If Project 52 does that for me I'll be content. Although I am happy with some of the photos I usually shoot, I do feel that there are more opportunities out there that I (somehow) just don't spot. Maybe I can develop that 'spotting' a bit more.