Year Long Photography Challenge – Jim Pearson Photography

November 25, 2018 - Day 389 - iPhone 7 Plus Daily B/W Photo Challenge - Pokémon Damion - Click photo for larger view.

My Long Term iPhone B&W project comes to a close

Above: My nephew Damion is one of our budding artists in the family and at left he sports a Pokémon mask that he made, before we head off for church.

Well, it seems that day 389 is where I stopped my current long term project of shooting a back and white photographs using my iPhone 7 Plus, after missing a couple days due to the winter crud going around here in Western Kentucky. When I started the project on October 31, 2017 I wanted to see just how far it would take me and I’m there! At first my goal was to do it for a year, then that turned into 400 days, and though I am shy of that goal, I’m still extremely happy with the project and the photos I’ve got over the last 389 days. Who knows, it might well just turn into a book project next, but that’s for another post down the road.

With that being said here’s my parting shot for this series, which was taken two days after my last portrait.

I hope you all have enjoyed the photos of my nieces, nephews, family, friends and interesting things that have come across my iPhone 7 Plus during the project.

So, now that this one’s over I thought I’d reflect back on what I’ve learned from this personal photography project and share my thoughts on how taking on a personal one of this nature can go about improving anyone’s photography.

First, this isn’t my first long term project that I’ve done over my photography career. I’ve done several year-long ones in the past and the most recent before this one was for a gallery display that was called 100 Veterans of Hopkins County, where I made portraits of 100 Veterans that live in Hopkins County, Kentucky.

Every time I decide to do a project like this it’s because I want to challenge my self to improve in some aspect of my photographic life. With the Veterans project I wanted to improve my portrait photography skills and also give back to the Veterans in my community and with this most recent iPhone project I wanted to challenge myself to shoot more photography with my iPhone to better learn just what it is capable of and I’m sure you’ll agree, if you’ve been following my progress, it’s a lot!

All photographers are able to capture one or several outstanding photographs in a year or lifetime and that in itself isn’t all that impressive because everyone will achieve this at some point or another. However, being able to take good or great photographs regularly is something else entirely! Anyone can eventually take a good photo, but in order to stand out in the crowd of today’s digital onslaught of photographers you need to be able to create a collection of good photographs and a long-term project can help you achieve that.

One way to learn how to create great photographs on a regular basis is by working on a project and that is why they are important for both artists and photographers alike! They don’t just help you to improve technically, but also artistically and help to improve your visual focus. Of course the success of a project is always rests with the audience for your photography, so a long-term photography project challenges you to improve the way you express yourself through your photography and forces you to communicate your thoughts and ideas better through your pictures.

A project also can help you to focus on one aspect of your photographic journey that you feel you may not be the strongest in! It can also keep you from shooting randomly and reaching toward a goal in your photography.

When doing a long-term photography project there will be those days when you just can’t get motivated and nothing seems worthy of your camera lens! Don’t worry, it happens to everyone, but some of the following tips may help you get through those slumps like they did with me.

First and foremost, announce to the world your intention to do a year long, month long or whatever length of photography project on related social media platforms such as Facebook Groups, Instagram, Twitter, ect! By doing this it will help hold yourself accountable to complete it and your family, friends and followers will help cheer you on and see your daily contribution to your project. Upload your pictures daily as well! If you wait and do them weekly you’ll find it less engaging and difficult to keep up with.

Make a list of photo ideas for the length of your project. Doing a year long one? Then come up with one or two words for a theme for each day of the year to photograph. Perhaps, do the same thing for a month at a time such as, December could be Christmas and for the whole month you shoot photos related to that holiday. The options are limitless so brainstorm and make a list that contains ideas that you can refer back to on those days that you’re not inspired!

Well, there’s so much more that could be covered in a post like this. Google “how to start a photography project,” and you’ll find a wealth of information and inspiration!

No it’s on to my next project, Long Exposure Photography! – Keep shooting everyone!

Day 22 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Journey

November 21, 2017 – Day 22 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Journey. This is a portrait of my niece Journey after her preschool’s Thanksgiving program today. Photographing kids with the iPhone indoors can be a challenge (they’re fast!!), with or without flash. I prefer not to use flash myself. I feel that as soon as the flash goes off you announce to the world, I’m taking a picture and it’s harder to get good candid shot. Plus, the iPhone camera doesn’t take the picture right away when using the flash, there’s always a slight delay. Another tip for photographing kids is to use the camera’s “burst” mode (we used to call it motor drive) and then select your favorite, sharp photo from the burst.

November 20, 2017 – Day 21 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: End of light tracks.

November 20, 2017 – Day 21 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: End of light tracks. I was on my way home from a meeting tonight and as traveled the six miles from Madisonville, Ky to my home in the country, I watched the crescent moon as it dipped low in the western sky. I kind of wanted a photo using it as part of my scene for today’s challenge photo, but I knew it would need something else as I knew the limitations of iPhone. The iPhone isn’t the best in low light situations! However, I feel it’s a toss up between noise, which used to be called grain in the film days for you younger folks! However, then as now the more important thing to me is to get the photo! As you can see I found a little bit more light when I stopped by my driveway next to the Paducah and Louisville railroad tracks at the crossing. There was a nice reflection and the signal next to the tracks was lit as well. Of course, there’s noise, but for me, the picture works!! It’s better to have a bit of noise than no picture at all!

November 19, 2017 – Day 20 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Let kids be kids.

November 19, 2017 – Day 20 – iPhone Daily B&W White Photo Challenge: Let kids be kids. Sometimes when you’re photographing kids, it pays to let them be kids and make faces if they want! Usually once they’ve got past the faces you can get other more serious shots if you want. Personally, I love this shot of my nieces, Journey and Elaina and nephew Jayden! They’re all such cutups!!!

Black and White iPhone Challenge

This project started out on October 31 as a 7 Day Black and White Photo Challenge on Facebook. After the week went by I enjoyed it so much that I’ve decide to continue with the project as long as it takes me. These are the first 10 photos I’ve shot here in a gallery. Others I’ll post daily.

I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did taking them!

Perhaps, sometime down the road some of these will be in a book!

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March 31, 2014 – 52 Week Photography Challenge – Uncertain

This is my photo for this weeks photo challenge with the topic of “Uncertain” and I think Elaina’s face says it all, while Adriana seems to care less and is perfectly happy. This was both of their first trip to the Easter Bunny, at least that they can remember perhaps. I figured when she was placed in his lap for the picture that there would be some sort of reaction along these lines so I just waited for the picture to occur and then snapped the shutter. I got off three shots before she decided that things were OK.

Details: iPhone 5s with the standard camera, post processing was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust. I actually opened this JPG as a RAW file in the Adobe RAW Plug-in and did most of the editing there first, including the cropping. Then I opened it Photoshop as a 16-bit file and applied a bit of sharping and clarity in Topaz Adjust.

March 22, 2014 – 52 Week Photography Challenge – Details

This week’s challenge topic for the year is “Details.” I shot this in Sebree, Ky as I was standing next to the railroad tracks waiting for a train. I love the colors and how they match up to the building the fence and barbed wire surrounding it. I love it when I’m waiting on a picture and end up finding another picture while doing so.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film. Some sharping was done using Topaz Adjust in Photoshop.

March 16, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Shadows

I have been playing around with this picture in my mind’s eye for a couple days now. I wanted something that was mysterious looking that still met the theme of the week of “shadows.” I ended up shooting it last night during a commercial as I was watching “The Walking Dead.” If you’re a fan, wasn’t that a mind blowing episode last night? Anyway, back to the picture. I used a clamp on light with a 150 watt bulb to cast a shadow of my hand on my bedroom wall as I held the camera and shot the photo with the other. It took a few tries, but I’m happy with the way this one turned out. Kinda reminds me of a “Walker.”

Photo was shot with my Nikon D800 and post processed in Photoshop CS6, with just a few adjustments, mostly in the shadows of course.

03.02.14 52 Week Challenge-Portrait of Flint Bone

Week 9/52 Photo Challenge – Portrait – Flint

This week for my picture a week theme or my portrait challenge I captured this photo of my good friend Flint Bone with my iPhone 4s using the Hipstamatic App with the Tintype film and lens.

February 16, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Black and White

This weeks challenge photo comes from a weekend trip to Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park. With all the ice and snow starting to melt I figured this small waterfall would be running good and braved the mile and a half walk to get to it.

02.08.14 52 Week Challenge-Transportation

February 8, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Transportation

This weeks challenge was “Transportation” and I captured this shot of a northbound CSX coal train as it passed through Crofton, Ky. I was just lucky that there was also an old tractor next to the tracks waiting for repairs and I thought it was a double duty transportation picture. The area has a lot of Mennonites that us tractors as one of their modes of transportation.

Shot with my Nikon D800 at 1/4000 sec at f/4.8 with a 70-300mm lens at 135mm with an ISO of 320.

February 2, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Looking Up

For this week’s challenge I decided to try a different perspective on the topic of “Looking up.” This photo of my nephew, Damion at the top of the stairs, looking all innocent and patiently waiting for me to finish taking pictures of him so I could pick him up. His body stance, hands behind his back and the look on his face and his eyes just melts my heart.

Shot with my Nikon D800 with a 18mm Nikor lens at f/2.8. Shutter speed was 1/40th of a second with an ISO of 1,800.

January 25, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – People I Know

For this weeks challenge I’ve chosen a photoof my nephew Xaiver and his sister Adrianna as he cuddled with her this afternoon on the couch.

When dealing with photographing kids this age most times you have to be patient and shoot a lot of pictures to get that just right photo. This one didn’t take that many or that long though. I just sat on the opposite end of the couch and waited. I think the whole tame frame wasn’t more than about two minutes till I had this shot.

Exposure info: 1/60th, f/2.8 ISO 4,000 with my Nikon D800 and a Sigma 24-70 lens at 34mm.

January 12, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Cars and Bikes

This weeks challenge theme was patterns. The object is to shoot all week long and then post your favorite photo at the end of the week.

For me this week the favorite is a hard one to choose so I’m posting two! Both were shot in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, the first day of the polar vortex that brought all the cold weather to our region. It was 7 degrees when I ventured away from the warmth of my SUV to take both these photos, and that’s not counting the wind chill factor.

The big stack of cars came from a salvage yard and I just love the patterns and colors that are represented here in this photograph. I’ll wager that if you were to figure the cost of each of these cars at their new price, there’s a lot of money crammed into this pattern photo.

Exposure info: Nikon D800, 1/4000 @ f/5.6, ISO 500 with a Nikon 70-300mm lens at 300mm.

The second photo of the bikes is pretty much right downtown. Didn’t know the city was doing bike rentals like this, but it’s a great idea and provided me a great source of a pattern picture. Even the sidewalk has a pattern! Another shot that I love.

Exposure info: Nikon D800, 1/60 @ f/18, ISO 720 with a Sigma 24-70mm lens at 24mm.

January 5, 2014 – 52 Week Challenge – Straight out of the Camera

January 1, 2014 – 52 Week Photo Challenge – This first weeks challenge theme was “Straight out of the Camera” – It’s said that what you do on the first day of the year is a good indication of what you’ll be doing the rest of the year, so I had to start it off shooting pictures of one of my great-greats. This is Elaina who is always gracious to allow me to take her picture, hope it stays that way as she gets older. The challenge this week was to shoot the picture and post it, not to do any “tweaking” in Photoshop or any other program. The only thing I’ve done is to re-size the full image for the web and add my watermark.Shot as a RAW file with my Nikon D800 at 1/60 @ f/8 at ISO 4,000 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens.

January 2, 2014 – Pine Grove in the snow

As many of my friends know I walk every morning with a couple of friends at our local city park that has a trail that’s 1.25mi in length. I really enjoy the trail and as you’ve seen in the past it’s one of the sources of many of my pictures, especially shot with my iPhone as it’s always with me.

Today it was miserably cold and snowing and I almost talked my walking partners out of today’s exercise, but they insisted that since we were there that we should go ahead and brave the elements. Besides, I’ve always told them that the hardest part of exercising in the winter was getting out the door, and of course they through it back into my face.

Well, today’s photo comes from today’s walk. There’s this one area we walk through along one of the lakes that goes through a grove of pine trees and one of the older trees fell sometime in past few days resulting in today’s photo. I just love how the snow produced a slight misty quality. Sometimes you just never know where you’ll find a good picture, even on a bad weather day.

Getting back to film

Well, it’s a new year and I think I’m going to force my self to start shooting more with the film cameras I have. Last year I bought a Belair X 6×12 Medium Format camera to use on some of my road trips last year and I think I may have shot 3 rolls through it. That’s not much considering you only get 4 exposure per roll of film.

So, with that being said… this year I’ll be doing 12, month long challenges that involve shooting film. Each month will have a different theme and while my goal is to post one picture a month, I hope to come up with more than that that I feel are worthy of sharing here.

Of course my darkroom has been used pretty much as a storage room for the past several years and as you can see from today’s video clip, I’ve got to do some cleaning and re-arranging so I can start using it again. Not sure that the dead of winter is the best time to be starting this endeavor as some of the stuff stored here will have to be moved to my workshop. But, as friend Fred Jones says, “it is what it is.”

December 31, 2013 – Year long photo challenge

December 31, 2013 – This month’s photographic challenge topic is “Christmas.” I found this church with a snowman and penguin in it’s front year today in Hopkinsville, Ky to finish off this year’s challenge and thought it was a bit unusual. Please feel free to share!

The image was shot on RAW with my Nikon D800. Exposure info: 1/800 sec f/8 at ISO 500 with a Sigma 24-70mm lens at 46mm.