How do you come up with a project?

**slackercruster** · 19-Aug-2012, 18:01

how do you come up with a project?

Am open minded. I shoot almost anything. I put myself out there and shoot. One thing leads to another. I ask and advertise. but advertising has not paid off so much for me. So just keep plugging away at it. Is much easier if you shoot small format than LF for certain stuff. if you like landscape / rural then carry the LF with you at all times.

**William McEwen** · 23-Aug-2012, 07:55

I have a lot of interests, but I need to get almost obsessed with things to have the energy for a long-term project. In the 1990s, it was a lot of politicians. I met and photographed quite a few of them, and I had an exhibition of them and then I was ready to find something else.

I photographed a classical musician, a pianist, in 2002, and she was charming and smart and funny, and I thought, hmmm, classical musicians, might be a good demographic to make a project out of. Many subjects and a zillion sheets of 8x10 film later, that work is being exhibited in a one-person show for three months beginning in October.

An exhibition has a way of putting the lid on a project. I haven't decided whether I'll keep it up or not. The decision comes more from the heart than the head.

I have another project in mind that I'd jump on in a second, enthusiastically. But I know it would involve lots of red tape for each sitting, and that's what I might not have the mental energy for.

I confess that I'm always a little surprised when photographers tell me they want to do a project but they don't know what. I guess I tend to get obsessed about things, so my obsessions lead the way and keep me interested.

I wish I had a dime for every time a photographer has told me he or she is looking for a project and they seek my advice. What do you have in mind? I ask them. 99 percent of the time they tell me they want to photograph the homeless.

And from time to time people ask me if I ever photograph the homeless.

I guess it's expected.

So my question for you is -- what interests you outside of your photography? Maybe you should bring that into your photography.

Sorry this is so convoluted, just a few thoughts here.

William

jp · 23-Aug-2012, 10:33

I don't have a problem coming up with projects either. I've got a few ongoing ones that I chip away at from time to time. And a whole bunch more opportunities I won't have time to fully explore, even if I didn't have to work and had a full bank account... I guess my curiosity makes many things interesting.

**Mark Sawyer** · 23-Aug-2012, 10:43

A good project isn't one you struggle to come up with, it's one you have trouble getting out of. Not much help, I know...

**andreios** · 23-Aug-2012, 12:14

Guys, Mark, William and others, it IS much help to me.. In a way, you confirm what I was thinking is best way to do things.. But being more or less on a doorstep of any serious photography, I just wanted to here what you more experience walkers in the field of photography think about and how do you work.

as for bringing one's interests into photography - it might be sometimes difficult if one's interests are either a bit abstract or far away geographically, but that could be indeed the challenge set before me - to come back to the earth, to concentrate on things that are visible and at hand..

All this rings some bells with me and some ideas are slowly forming in my head.. But whether something comes from them.. we'll see (or not) in a couple of years..

**William McEwen** · 23-Aug-2012, 12:38

Yes, it has to be something you can work on regularly. A swamp in Michigan was my favorite place to photograph. Eventually I had to move to Texas to make a living, and I tried to keep the project going on visits twice a year, but there was too much to pack into each visit. I'll always mourn that project.

**Mark Sawyer** · 23-Aug-2012, 12:57

Originally Posted by andreios

But being more or less on a doorstep of any serious photography...

That seems to be a common predicament. People spend years, decades, developing their technical craft and a way of seeing, but don't do a whole lot with it. Like waiting on a doorstep, flowers in hand, waiting for your muse to answer the door... keeping the flowers fresh, still waiting...

But some people aren't waiting. They just like the flowers. And wouldn't you know, sometimes they do the best projects of all...