Last time I did this, some amazing things occurred. It was January 31st, 2011 and I had just finished my first 31 days of a 365 Daily Shoot- an exercise where you try to take a photograph everyday for a year. I was following “assignments” from The Daily Shoot (a now defunct website) and was quite pleased with my pics. I shared a quick post on my blog about the fact that I had finished my first month.
A few days later, Zac Chase told me that he had shared my pics with one of his English classes. The next week resulted in a somersault of poetry and music across continents. You can read about the events here and here. If you didn’t read about this story last year, I recommend you take a few minutes and read through the posts and comments. It was a truly inspirational week of cool free flowing organic events.
Which brings me to this post. January 31st! Last time I only made it 94 days and lost the thread. I was working with a DSLR l and now I am almost strictly working on my iPhone. I have sworn that this year will be different. I will do my best to make it all 365…sorry 366 days of 2012.
Take a look at the shots and meet me on the other side for a little reflection on the process of daily photography in general and this batch in particular.
Is it obvious that is has been raining here in Jakarta. The images do not lie. It has been grey and wet this January. But as you can see the days are highlighted with color and light as well. Once more, I am in love with this batch of photos. I wish I had time to take a few of the photos and expand them into a more auditory experience. I invite you to take these photos and add your meaning and experience to them, as Zac’s class did last year. Let’s see if anything comes of them this time around.
The Process:
We do not tell stories through images. The images tell our stories on their own. When collected and batched and examined, we can see patterns and narratives of our lives which we usually pass us by when we are busy with the act of actually living. By documenting at least one photograph everyday, we can look back and notice the thread of who we were by what we saw and what we chose to capture.
In addition to the dissection of our lives after the fact, taking a daily photograph has helped me look more closely at my life as I am living it. Take today for example. It was nearly 3:00 pm and I realized that I hadn’t looked closely enough at my day as it was passing me by. I took a break from rubric writing and forced myself out into our campus. I strolled about simply looking. Examining and looking for something interesting, something beautiful to capture. Here is what I found:
cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Intrepid Flame
cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Intrepid Flame
cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Intrepid Flame
I was thinking about starting some kind of daily photo assignment with my students. I think they will find value in being able to document their lives in Flickr sets. They will appreciate the downtime to wander around campus learning how to “look” at the world. Need to think more about this. Any ideas? What to do something collaborative?
If you are not trying a dailyshoot I highly recommend giving it a try. I thought that not having the structure of The Daily Shoot would prove challenging, but I am enjoying he freedom to snap at will and sort through what I have for the pic at the end of the day. In other news, I have been trying to keep an eye on The Daily Create over at DS106.
Creativity is not some romantic magical muse that only a few people can access. Creativity is the ability to fully immerse yourself in the essence of life and stain what you find with pieces of your self. The only thing you need to do to be creative is to be alive. Open yourself up to experimentation and see what happens. It may feel silly or not important, but only when you say yes can to every shot will you find the spark you need.
You have a great eye! What wonderful photos, Jabiz. These will serve as lovely reminders of life in Indonesia and at school. I was thinking they’d make a great photo book (which are lovely presents). I like the idea you have for your class- to see the world. This will in turn make them more attuned to analysis, I believe. I like the idea and I think I’ll spend some time this week with my Grade 8 students doing this. They’ll have to stain what they find.
Hi Jabiz,
After you introduced me to Flickr last week, i had a look at the photos you had added and the daily photo collection really caught my eye. I thought it was a fabulous idea and i loved the shots that you were taking. Finding the beauty in such everyday objects or scenes. I loved the idea of having a guideline for what to capture each day and seeing what your interpretation of that was. Are the 4 pictures that you have in this article all taken on your iphone too? I’m really impressed with how clear they are as i’m often disappointed with the photos i take on my phone.
I think it would be a great project to do with your students and i think it would really help them look at the world around them differently. I think i may start myself with a months trial rather than a 366day target though.
Wondering what it would look like to have each photo for about .5 seconds set to a background that you play.
There is an Infinite number of possibilities here. I think that kids might need some more direction or guidance. I had thought it would be interesting to give people a restricted geographical place (a city block, an empty lot, an ordinary room) and ask them to turn something ordinary into something bus photo. Or have them write stories based on other kids photos. Or do the thing with close up shots of everyday objects which makes it hard guess what it is.
just be shooting photos allrhe time
I had a few thoughts…I hope these are clear…
– Monthly photo remixes…students pick one of your photos, or a set created by the class for each month, and they, well, re-imagine it anyway they like (digital, filters, print, canvas…sketch)
– Instead of daily lessons for students, have weekly themes, colors, subjects and have students submit only seven pictures to a class set…
– Maybe some students would rather create written pieces based on someone else’s photos…maybe like a written 365 project…pair students up and they can switch: student A can take a photo and student B could write a passage to go with it…
I would be interested in doing any of the above ideas myself! I firmly believe that not only do I get inspired by looking more closely at the world around me, but also when I see other people’s photos I am inspired….
Love Steve’s ideas. I agree that 366 photos for a student is too much to handle. A version of project 52 would be more attainable (1 per week). I think that integrating a written component is a great way to get students exciting about writing.
Jabiz,
I’ve been enjoying your Instagram pics and love it that they are SO MUCH better on your blog!
Anyway, I love all of these ideas. I like guiding them with a theme/ idea weekly and have them take at least 1 shot per week and pick out the one that represents the theme and make a monthly collage. Maybe these 4 theme/ideas can be integrated into writing a story or a script for a movie.
Recently I read tweets from music teachers that along with their 366 projects, they will compose 12 original pieces. Isn’t this the same idea? Writing 12 short stories would be fantastic!
I agree with @rushtheiceberg – I’m also inspired by how people see the world – their pictures tell it all.
Great ideas everyone. Thanks. I think you are right that a free for all 366 is too much, but I want to find a structure that works. Would be cool if we could create a Flickr group where various students could post their photos and sets, so others could use them for writing prompts, etc….I hope to start this soon, will keep you posted….
Hi Jabiz,
I have always wanted to do exactly what you are trying to do, but I always seem to run into a hiccup . . . batteries are dead, forgot my camera, can’t find the cord to download the photos, can’t take photos as good as I could with my SLR, I keep forgetting. I am going to try your challenge. Another single friend said to me that when you are single you don’t have a witness to your life . . . I am still thinking about whether I agree or not, but there’s something to that . . .there are a lot of uncollective memories that perhaps fade too soon.
I also liked your comment about pictures telling their own story. That’s why I love two books that embrace just that belief.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The True Meaning of Smekday
Pingback: Film: First Stop Photography - English Department