Photo project ideas for the whole year. What is a photo project

There are many professional photography schools and colleges abroad, in which beginner photographers are taught not only to take pictures beautifully and correctly, but also prepare for a professional life, teaching them how to create and develop their own projects. " Diploma work»In such establishments it is often the development of an idea of ​​your own project, shooting, printing photographs and organizing your own photographic exhibition. In the CIS, professional photography schools are not very popular, and training in them costs a lot of money, but this does not diminish the interest of our photographers in working on photo projects. Today we're going to walk you through the basic steps of creating a photography project and talk about ideas that can inspire aspiring photographers to work. The first thing to understand when creating your own project is its importance and the value of every photo taken as part of that project. Each photograph created for the project should have meaning and reflect the idea of ​​the photo project. Now, ordinary shooting with a camera turns into permanent job and creative search. A photo project has a goal, and if we are talking about a commercial project, then it is always clear and transparent, but if the author touches social problems, it is worth carefully considering the plan of action and the progress of the work. Where to start when working on a photography project? First, answer the following questions:

• What is the purpose of the project? - Is it an artistic, journalistic or documentary project?
• The subject of the shoot? - It can be one person, or a group, city, or region, you can photograph landscapes or macro shots, etc.
• What do photographs have in common? - All photos of the project must have connecting link... There must be something that sets it apart from a simple collection of photographs.
• What is the end result? - Publishing photos on the Internet and in social networks Is a great way to tell about yourself and your hobby, find like-minded people and look at the work of competitors. Nevertheless, if we are talking about serious work on an important, or at least just an interesting topic, then important point In the creation of a photo project, we will organize our own exhibition, which will present beautiful, large printed photographs.

At first glance, it seems that making your own photo project is difficult and responsible, and to some extent, it is. If you want to try yourself in this challenging but very exciting endeavor, but feel that you are not yet ready to work on a serious topic, start with something less onerous. Such projects can be called “informal” or “fun projects”. Here are some topics that might interest you:

1. Project 365 (or 366), the goal of which is to create one thematic photo every day. This type of project has become so common that many newbies are passionate about it today. It is important that the theme of the project is so vague that you can photograph anything and how you want. You can become the subject of photography yourself, or someone close to you, a pet or a plant, you can take pictures of the same view from your window every day, or a bus stop. for example, he photographed the streets of Montreal almost every morning, resulting in a unique collection of serene photographs of the city.
2. Take pictures of the discrepancy. This is a very confusing and incomprehensible name, in fact it hides in itself a creative and original project, whose idea is to shoot something ordinary, in the most unexpected places. So, you can photograph a mahogany chair in the middle of a plowed field, expensive patent leather shoes in the middle of a food tray. Such a photo project will allow you to show your creative vision of the world and make your imagination work to the fullest.
3. Self-portraits in different places and situations. For this photography project, you will need a tripod and a remote shutter release. Traveling to different cities, and leading your usual way of life, you can take one photo every day, or once every few days. As a result, after a year of work on this project, you will have a fascinating collection of pictures from work, from home, from celebrating a friend's birthday, from the street, from a trip on a tram or from a dinner in a cafe.
4. One of the most interesting projects is photographing a baby from the first days of his life. You may have seen projects like this in which a parent takes pictures of their child every day. By taking pictures every day for several years, you will get breathtaking shots of your child growing up.
5. Find an interesting subject, preferably some kind of natural object, be it a tree, a bush, or just a beautiful landscape and photograph it at intervals of a week or a month. Come to the shooting location all the time, regardless of the weather - the presence of rain, snow or strong wind will only make it more interesting.
6. Shoot close-ups. Paying attention to insects and plants in your yard, you will find many interesting ideas to create a small photo project.
7. In the spring and summer time year, you can start collecting photographs of wildflowers, observing natural changes and fixing them, by the fall your project will give you a large number of beautiful photos.
8. Dedicate your photography project to capturing the city at night. Night photography can be very fun and exciting, it will bring beautiful and unusual shots to your creative life. Photos taken at night have some kind of special magic, they hide something mystical in themselves.
9. Probably, all of us played "with words", when each new word begins with the last letter of the previous one. Try to portray something similar in your photo project, photographing every day some interesting object, starting with the last letter, the object photographed yesterday. It is desirable that these were some original and unexpected objects.
10. Take pictures of strangers. Filming strangers can be challenging for many people, shooting someone on the street always runs the risk of getting into trouble from the person you're photographing. But there are times when shooting on the street does not bother anyone, and people simply do not pay attention to cameras. Walking around the city during street fairs, or festivals, you will have the opportunity to capture simple similar and collect interesting photos strangers.

These are just some ideas for possible photography projects, experiment, fantasize and get creative. Perhaps the information you read will inspire you to create your own photographic project, which will turn out to be completely unpredictable and unique! Good luck. Based on materials from the site - www.beyondmegapixels.com

I want to write this article, because before the shooting itself I managed to get a lot of questions about what kind of animal it is and what it is eaten with :)

I matured for quite some time before starting shooting photography projects. I studied a lot, trying to understand how and who sees this process for themselves. And I came to the conclusion that this concept is interpreted by both photographers and their clients so differently that inconsistencies often arise here. Therefore, I decided to outline how I see and represent this process, so that our future heroes would understand what it is, why, how it differs from other types of filming, and what are the pros and cons of projects compared to individual filming.

So, photo project(I make a reservation that FOR ME) is a thematic shooting, a kind of creative idea of ​​a photographer or a team, which is sometimes difficult to implement within the framework of an individual shooting. For its implementation, it is possible to attract decorators, florists, stylists and other craftsmen, depending on the tasks for a specific project. Such shooting allows you to significantly expand the boundaries of ordinary shooting, to do something more interesting, large-scale, more creative.

It all starts with an idea, one might even say a dream (at least in my case). In the heads of each of us there are some images, fabulous pictures that sometimes you want to bring to life. But in the framework of individual shooting, sometimes this is difficult to achieve, because sometimes you need some kind of special decor, sometimes outfits that correspond to the idea, sometimes a specific place, and sometimes all together. So, when preparing a photo project, the masters and I think over these details, prepare accessories, think over, look for suitable locations, organize transport for the transportation of everything necessary to these locations, i.e. we solve all the technical and creative issues necessary to implement the original idea. And we invite those who wish to take part in this event - people who are close to our idea, and who sees themselves as the hero of this particular photo story, and who wants to get special photos. All in all, for me a photo project is the realization of a creative idea... I am not interested in any other kind of photo projects where there is no creative self-realization.

Since everything that happens is on a larger scale than individual shooting, we assign separate day for shooting a photo project. We leave for the place with all the magic prepared, prepare locations, and our heroes come to the shooting in turn, at their appointed time. The participants of the photo project do not need to think about the props and their transportation, about the place of shooting, they just have to prepare their appearance(wardrobe) in accordance with the recommendations that we always make for photo projects, so that the output picture is perfect. But often we also help with this moment.

Let's talk a little about pricing, in order to clarify this point as well.
The cost of participation in a photo project includes, depending on the specific project, the cost of the work of a photographer, decorator, stylists, transportation costs, but all NOT individual costs are divided among all project participants, therefore, as a result, each project participant pays several times less, for example, to a decorator (because the cost of the decorator's services is divided among all) and for the transportation of props (again, because the scenery is transported to the shooting site once for all the characters, and not for each one separately), i.e. As a result, the cost of participation in the project turns out to be much cheaper than organizing the SAME shooting individually. But, of course, a little more expensive than a simple walking photo shoot, where no additional expenses are required. The number of photos at the exit in a photo project is about the same as in the minimum package for individual shooting.

What is the difference between shooting a photo project and individual shooting?

The shooting of the project takes place on a specific day, in a specific place, in specially selected locations and / or scenery created for the project. Each participant is filmed at his own clearly designated time (usually about 45 minutes - hours), separately from the other participants. The result is photographs that no one else will have anywhere else :)). Therefore, shooting in the project is suitable, first of all, for those who are looking for something new and interesting, who are close to the designated topic of the photo project.

In individual shooting, we are not so limited by time, we can choose the time and place of shooting individually, the shooting will take place in a more free mode. But the lion's share falls on the shoulders of the heroes of the shooting. preparatory processes, although this moment, of course, depends on desire. After all, you can simply make a photo walk without any problems. Therefore, individual shooting is more suitable for those who prefer a more measured shooting mode, want to shoot in a specific place, with their own idea, who cannot adjust to the schedule of photo projects. So, it's up to you to decide what suits you best :)

).
- The most interesting social photo projects.

All kinds of photo projects (from acute social to entertainment) are not one hundred percent the product of documentary photography, but they are still very close to it. The essence of the photo project is to show something important, thought-provoking, unusual. Something to draw attention to. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the selection of "Friday": projects that will not leave you indifferent!

Children's theme

The topic of children and childhood is raised almost more often than all other topics combined. Still, this is a great opportunity to show beauty, injustice, and struggle at the same time. Let's see?

“There were children here”, by 30 photographers

A charming and even slightly surreal project aimed at helping viewers see children ... without children.

There is no picture of a child in any of the pictures, but the charming details captured in the photographs are difficult to assign to someone other than a little man: here are curious fingers "felt" the icing of the cake, here is the family dog ​​sporting beads, here are the palms on the mirror, here are the figurines Lego "breakfast" with milk and cereals ...

"The Drawing Hope" by Sean van Del

Canadian photographer found sick children of the most of different ages and asked them to draw their dream. And then ... he embodied her in a photograph! With the help of Photoshop, of course. Remarkably, Sean doesn't just give kids a few happy moments.

He sells his work, and gives the proceeds to the families of small models to help them get a little closer to their dreams.

As a rule, Sean's photographs show truly sick children, transplant survivors, blind, fighting cancer, etc. However, this does not prevent them from dreaming and enjoying life in their own way.

Wengenn in Wonderland by Queenie Liao vs While the Baby Sleeps by Adele Enersen

Some moms seem to have a lot of free time. Or just an abyss of love and inspiration. Two mothers and two babies who go to a fantasy world in their sleep.

Creative mothers create whole pictures around sleeping toddlers, the heroes of which are children: a dark forest with monsters, a princess and a pea, a walk on an airplane carpet, visiting an octopus, a staircase to the sky behind stars, a safari park, a steadfast tin soldier. Mimicry is off the charts!

"The Fairy World of Flowers" by Adrien Broome

Rethought on new way adventures of modern Alice, who enters the world of flowers. From a room of one color, a secret passage opens to her to another, filled with new colors.

Everything, everything in each separate room is done in one colors, on the decorations of which sculptors, designers, florists, pastry chefs and other wizards worked.

"The Other Side of Mother's Love" by Anna Radchenko

Raising a child is very delicate process, which can easily destroy a person even before he begins to truly live.

This is what the photo series created by Anna is dedicated to. Some parents' love turns out to be traumatic and hypertrophied. Instead of sincere concern - total control, instead of affection - rigor and drill, instead of a happy childhood - mother's unfulfilled dreams ...

"Friends from the cradle" by Jessica, just a mom and owner of a puppy

Continuous mimimi and ururu for those who are not enough to touch the cats from Vkontakte. Two-year-old Bo and eight-month-old puppy Theo hit it off very quickly, especially when it comes to sleep.

Now this inseparable couple drooling together on the linen carefully washed by their mother, while the mother herself takes funny photos and uploads them to her Instagram.

Echolilia by Timothy Archibald

Timothy is the father of an autistic boy. That is, a child who "is not at home in this world." The whole horror of autism is that its origin is unknown and there is no adequate treatment, which means that the only thing that remains is to simply live with it.

Little Eli spends hours looking at wires or even into emptiness, constantly repeating something (mechanically, without a semantic message), does not tolerate noise, does not know how to communicate. To better understand his son, Timothy brought to life a project that shows the world through the eyes of an autistic person. All angles and ideas came from the choice of Eli himself.

- Look into someone else's life -

Which of us would not like to poke our curious nose into someone else's life even for a minute, eh ... Fortunately, this is what photo projects exist for. Let's see?

Friends of Interest, by Ursula Sprecher and Andy Cortelini

60 photographs dedicated to people with common interests. Photographers have "searched" all kinds of clubs, parties, communities and other places where like-minded people gather.

Some topics are quite trivial - elderly radio amateurs, Star Wars fans, sports associations or, for example, young chess players.

But there are also some rather strange shots that look more like shots from horror films: a club of smokers, lovers of taxidermy, an association of Santa Clauses in the entourage of dark forests, fans of BDSM ... And what are you fond of?

Aging With Taste by Ari Seth Cohen

Grandmothers - what are they? Hunched over, rumpled, unkempt, dry? Not the heroines of this photo project! The photographer found the brightest, proud, fashionable, stylish and unforgettable "grandmothers" from 59 to 102 years old, who do not care about numbers and other conventions.

They look the way they see fit and are not at all shy about their age! Some of the heroines of the photo project were invited to shoot for Vouge magazine.

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Meals, by Peter Menzel & Faith D'Aluisio vs The Hungry Planet, by Peter Menzel

Both photo projects, as the name implies, are dedicated to food, one of the most important pleasures from a human point of view. The first shows the daily diet of the most different people: from a sumo wrestler to a student, from a pastry chef to a Tibetan monk, from a camel seller to a vocal teacher, from an astronaut to an African woman, etc.

Some eat an exorbitant amount, while others make do with a "minimalist set." Hungry Planet expands the scope of the first project, illustrating the weekly diet of an ordinary family, found again in different parts of the world.

And again there is a huge spread: some eat fast food, chips and cola, while others fill the table with vegetables, fruits and herbs; some eat $ 500-700 a week, while others spend $ 1-3 for the same time.

Women Until 10 AM and Men Until 10 AM, by Veronique Vial

Ideal celebrities in everyday life are not much different from other people. It is enough to drop in to visit them before 10 am, says Veronik.

Actually, this is the essence of the project - to show people as they are right after waking up.

By the way, the list of photographed celebrities is impressive: Brendan Fraser, Vin Diesel, Jackie Chan, Til Schweiger, Mila Jovovich, Demi Moore, Naomi Campbell, Angelina Jolie, Julianne Moore, Laetitia Casta and many, many, many others.

Nightmares and Memories by Lottie Davis

In filming this episode, Lottie probably used the principle of "kicking out a wedge with a wedge". After all, she took and transferred the worst nightmares of her friends and acquaintances to frightening atmospheric pictures.

The Red Devil comes to someone at night, demonic twins frighten someone, someone suffocates a child in their sleep ... Do you want to remember your own horrors?

Mothers and Daughters, by Reuters

About a hundred photographs of the same type from all over the world - from Germany to Cuba, from Romania to Uganda, from the USA to Somalia. Mom, daughter and a piece of the interior of their daily life.

The mothers were asked the following questions: profession, when did I finish my studies and who would like to see my daughter. And for daughters: at what age they will graduate and who they want to become.

And in these simple shots and questions, a whole secret world of mothers who dream of better life for their children. Especially if they themselves have achieved very little.

Barely Notice by John William Keedy

V modern world there is very little room left for massive madness. Everyone is watching each other, all diseases are identified and listed in the catalog.

And in this world, people go crazy a little bit, "barely noticeable." With John's help, we can learn the anonymous secrets of people with different mental disorders who make their lives a mini-branch of hell.

Just the Two of Us by Klaus Pichler

All of us from time to time would like to reincarnate into some other person, preferably radically different from us. Cosplayers, unlike us, not only dream, but also reincarnate.

The Austrian photographer walked through the typical human homes of cosplayers and captured them in play costumes and everyday settings.

Why do they need it? The name of the project hints that sometimes dressing up like this is not just a game, but a way to accept life and your place in it. And also - the opportunity to escape for a while into a world operating under alternative laws.

Window to the Women's Bedroom, by Gabriele Galimberti and Eduardo Delisle

Usually it would not even occur to us to pry into the first house we come across in order to take a closer look at the bedroom of some charming girl, but why not? After all, a bedroom is not only a place where a young woman sleeps. It's a whole bunch of parts, shit characteristic features that betray the addictions, attitudes, dreams and hopes of a person.

A relaxed Brazilian couple, a religious Dubai girl, a mess in Germany, pin-up and BDSM from London ... Want to know their secrets?

Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell about all interesting photo projects in detail - there are a lot of them! A mass of talented people directs their energy in a creative direction, creating acute social, cognitive or simply interesting projects that open the world to people in all its diversity. Here is another condensed compilation for those who always have little interest.

First of all, it should be said that creating your own photo project will help you concentrate more when shooting, and a collection of photos will give you the opportunity to express more than individual shots.

Today, online social photo networks such as focus too much on individual photography. If you open someone's Flickr profile, you will see a stream of photos. It will show a bunch of random images in the order they were uploaded to the service.

Photo by James Dodd from the series "Sunday Morning"

IV. Don't publish a project until it's complete

While there are some advantages to uploading a photo while working on a project (motivation, feedback, criticism), it is still better to present the project only when it is completely finished.

How do you know if a project is ready? You can either set a deadline (week, month, year, and so on), or feel that it is ready (which is more subjective).

V. Collecting Feedback During Work

Deciding not to publish a project before it's finished does not mean that you will not be able to receive feedback. Feedback can be received not only through the Internet.

Showcase your photos on your laptop, iPad or in print directly. When contacting a person personally, you will receive a much more complete and meaningful assessment than when using Internet resources. As a last resort, submit a series of images on private blogs and ask people what they think of the project concept, images, sequence, and so on.

Take it to heart, but remember: only you should take final decision when editing.

Vi. Edit the project

This is the hardest part of the project - choosing the best shots. Less is better. 15 pictures telling a story are preferable to 100 rambling pictures.

Is there a limit to the number of images in a project? In general, no. It all depends on the goals.

In the case when you expect to present a project at an exhibition or on the Internet, you should limit yourself to 15–20 photos. If you are planning to publish a photo book, you will probably need 60-200 images.

Vii. Get your project in order

Once you have enough images, it will take time for you to organize them. This is another extremely important part of the project.

Determining the sequence of photos in a project is akin to building the plot of a story: the beginning, the culmination, the denouement.

While you do not need to adhere strictly to this structure, inultimately, you should have a clear idea of ​​why the photos are lined up. in this order.

The most important are the beginning and the end of the project. The first image, like the cover of a book, should motivate the viewer to further view the project. With the final image, you should give the viewer a “word of encouragement”. It is the last shot that the viewer will ultimately take out of the project.

There are many ways to sequence your shots. Here are a few of them:

• by shooting time (chronologically);
• by plot (landscapes - at the beginning of the project, active actions and portraits - in the middle);
• by emotion (from happy to gloomy people).

Also, when looking at other people's photography projects, ask yourself why did the photographer arrange their photos in that order?

VIII. Publishing a project

There are many ways to present your project: Flickr, Facebook, Google+, 500px, personal website, book, gallery exhibit ...

IX. Get inspired!

To get started, explore the galleries of the photographers mentioned in this article. You can find other useful links on their blogs. Don't stop exploring! This will allow you to create an excellent photo project.

For many photographers, the camera becomes an extension of themselves. After all, it is through her that we look at the world. In this two-part series, we'll go through a list of photography projects you could take to truly diversify your portfolio and keep yourself busy.

In addition to learning new techniques, you challenge yourself and improve your portfolio in the process. You can shoot with your camera or your smartphone - in any case, doing these projects is a great experience. At the end of the article, we will briefly talk about what you can do with end result your projects.

Project 24/7

Stock photographer Arif Javad spent an entire day walking around London looking for material to advertise Apple. He only had an iPhone 7 with him and was tasked with photographing London from dawn to dusk, capturing views, emotions and movement.

Inspired by this photographer's example, you could do something like this. Challenge yourself - spend the day photographing the life of your city. Your possibilities are endless here.

Project "From A to Z"

This project can be approached in two ways. The first is to photograph objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. This will make your day very eventful, because taking pictures of all the letters will be more difficult than it seems! Searching for items is fun, and the element of surprise will create really cool and original photos... And the best thing about it is that you yourself do not know what you will photograph until you accidentally bump into the item you need.

The second way is to literally search for the alphabet around the city and photograph it as a collection. You can shoot signs, store fronts and anything that looks like letters. And if you want to be even more original - look for letters in landscapes. For example, the bend of the river in the shape of the letter "S" or such a railing resembling the letter "H".

Bokeh in product photography

Well, if you do not want to leave your house and go in search of adventure at all, put a photo box at home and experiment with the objects around you. Based on our photo bank, product photography is a very popular genre right now, so you definitely won't miss. Even the simplest sheet of foil can be the basis for an original photo shoot.

Here's one trick: place your subject on a sheet of glass with a dark material underneath, wrinkle the foil and use it as a background. By directing the light of a lamp or flashlight onto the foil, you get fancy patterns that, with a wide aperture, will create beautiful effect bokeh.

Minimalist landscapes

IT'S TIME for you to go on an adventure! And if you make up your mind, always keep the goal in mind. This project will require you to have a keen eye and observation to find more minimalist landscapes. You can shoot a series of minimalistic landscapes at long exposures. To make this journey even more special, shoot in black and white. And this is for you for inspiration:

Astrophotography

If you haven't tried your hand at astrophotography yet, you should broaden your horizons. You probably remember our maybe even seen ... Paul Ghana gives some really cool advice, but he also encourages everyone to try their hand at astrophotography at least once - to really get into the beauty of the night sky and experiment a little. With a little information and scouting around, you can head out into the fields and test yourself in a new genre.

Timelapse - time lapse photography

This project is based on Stephen Wilkes' TED Talk "The Passage of Time in One Snapshot" will require more work and diligence from you in the post-processing phase. And although it is the most time consuming of projects, you will not regret it - the results will be simply amazing. Force yourselftry this technique at least once and you are guaranteed to want to try again.

Project "50 Strangers"

This classic project takes a little bit of courage. The idea is to approach strangers on the street and ask their permission to photograph them. You need to find exactly 50 people. There are other variants of this project, for example, "100 Strangers", but this, of course, will be much more difficult. Don't chase records - stop at a reasonable number.

Approaching strangers and asking permission to take their portrait is not always a simple and easy task. This project can teach you a lot in terms of communicating with people. And the results will be truly impressive, because after all these meetings with strangers, you will return home with a unique selection photos.

If you like the project, but you are not sure that you can talk to such a large number strangers, change the project assignment and take pictures of people without faces. One of our authors, , makes his living by taking photos like this one.

Social awareness project

This is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the social issues relevant to your city. Capturing dramatic situations that affect people and make them think has become a mission for many photographers. Spend a weekend, or at least one day, filming what you see on the streets. And if you are fond of photojournalism, then this will all the more be an excellent practice for you.

It is also a great opportunity to meet new people, talk about their problems and concerns, and learn more about what is happening around you. It is not easy to work on projects like this, both technically and emotionally, but it will be worth it, because in the end you will get very sincere and natural photos with emotional overtones.

Food photography

Where do you start? One of our most popular photos - a shot of a barbecue. The demand for food photography never fades away, and in addition, this genre provides a huge scope for creativity. For example, food landscapes. In this type of photography, the photographer plays with the proportions and shapes of vegetables and fruits. Create a sense of the storytelling and follow it! You can add people and different characters to make your shots more realistic.

You can also choose a day and pamper yourself - go to restaurants and cafes all day. Take photos of the food you eat and add to your portfolio with delicious and delicious food. Finally, head to the bazaar and film this lively, abundant space. If you have a photo box at home (which, by the way, is very easy to build yourself), you can even do artistic food photography.

Architecture: a bottom-up view

Walking around the city and admiring different buildings, we often miss the most interesting and bizarre details. And all from the fact that they are used to looking at buildings from only one advantageous point. Pay attention to the ceilings and the incredible craftsmanship invested in architecture and interiors throughout the project. All you need to do is look up. This project is very interesting in the sense that this is how you can find striking patterns from which to make an original abstract photograph.

Pick a theme and stick to it

Of course, these projects don't come close to covering every possible photography topic. Find what interests you and create your own project. It is very important not to deviate from your ideas. If you have any other ideas for photography projects, please share them in the comment box below.

I chose the project- what's next?

If you shoot with a smartphone, photos can be part of your Clashot portfolio. Clashot - it mobile app allowing you to sell your mobile photos on Depositphotos.

After the projects, you will definitely have great pictures that you can select and send to some ... You have the same chance of winning as everyone else. It's time to bring your creativity out of the shadows.

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