2011 was a great year for me, as I hope it has been for you. One of the best things about last year was a photo project that I created for myself, in order to challenge myself each month. As you probably know, it involved me being in the photos that I took, which is always a little difficult. To see all of last year’s self-portraits, with themes suggested by you, follow this link, and be sure to click on each post to have access to all of the photos (sometimes I would go beyond just one photo of myself).
This year, I will be doing a different project each month, but I will (fortunately!) not be in front of the camera. I know, I know, the self-portraits were usually pretty hillarious, but I want to give someone else the opportunity to make a fool of themselves. Just kidding! I plan to make each photo stock worthy, which means it would look worthy of being in an advertisement, a calendar, or something else that you might see when flipping through a brochure. If you are familiar with Getty Images, then you’ll know what I’m going for. Hopefully, my last series of monthly photos will convince people that they want to volunteer as a model (instead of me!) for one of the upcoming photo shoots. I promise not to make you look too ridiculous… unless you’re willing to be a little silly and you don’t care.
If you are interested and in the Seattle area, please let me know through email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or by phone. My contact info can easily be found in the menu above. I will then add you to a list that I’ve already started, and contact you to find out your availability for the month. Another way you can volunteer, is to follow the conversation on my Facebook Photography Page, and speak up if you happen to have a free month or are interested in a particular idea. And don’t worry, it’s unlikely that I will have too many people that I can’t fit everyone in at some point this year. I may very well need more than one person for each shoot or even assistants for behind the scenes, so we shall see.
Don’t forget, I will still need people to make theme suggestions each month! That has not changed. Just keep in mind a few things if you are new to suggesting themes:
- Themes are general ideas, I try to steer away from specific suggestions because they don’t allow for much flexibility. To help you with this concept, think of what would be an acceptable theme for a party, like “the 80’s” or “Hawaiian”.
- Supplies – I am not rich! To make a theme a theme, I will likely need some props. But I will beg, borrow, and buy some props within reason.
- Location – It does not snow here much, it is not sunny here much, it is mostly rainy and gloomy. Okay, so not always, but just consider the weather, that’s all.
- Just suggest something. If I don’t pick yours, it could be any number of reasons, but I always appreciate a suggestion. Ideas often spawn other ideas, so yours could be inspiration for someone else’s.
I can’t wait to get started! I’m looking forward to staying behind the camera this time!
Happy new year!
Paula Thomas - Great idea for a project. Love what you’ve done so far this year. Are you submitting the images to Flickr Getty? Would be interesting to see how many photos from your project get accepted. They have been really slow lately at reviewing submitted pics.
traciehowe - Hey Paula! My goal was to eventually submit these types of images to a stock agency like Getty, but I haven’t tried yet. With this project, I’ve found myself straying from what might be considered stock-worthy, but I’m still having fun with it. If there’s no fun or learning involved, then there’s no purpose in it for me. I want to submit some of these and some from last year, but I’ll wait until I have a few more.