Themes and projects

Rock

Splinter

Ditch

Flow

Markus Spring wrote about themes and projects, which made me think.

For an amateur photographer, there is also the matter of what opporturnities you have (e.g., "natural landscape", "trees in urban setting", etc.), and what kind of "prototype images" you aim for (e.g., high-key, low-key, etc.)

I like to go for long walks in a forest, taking the camera with me. Thus, trees are often the subject. This is natural also because I grew up among trees in the Finnish countryside. Trees are a convenient, natural subject.

However, I wouldn't say that I have selected trees as a theme; that they have selected me would be better said.

Also, sometimes one get fixated in a specific theme, not seeing beyond it. For example, if you are looking for sunny images, you may miss the beauty of the fog or the rainy day.

Today I once again visited the forest nearby. It was again different - the spring is advancing fast. We have had rain, and the melting snow is generating floods here and there.

Have you made a photo book? - SoFoBoMo 2011 is approaching

Lamp, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Have you made a photo book? If you haven't then SoFoBoMo 2011 might be the perfect way to start: "SoFoBoMo is short for Solo Photo Book Month - a group event where a bunch of photographers all make solo photo books start to finish in 31 days."

This is a nice way to get started, as there is no pressure to perform, but plenty of support from others who are taking part. In 2011, SoFoBoMo runs from 1st July to 31st August. Already 23 people have pledged to take part.

I have taken part twice, in 2009 and in 2010. Last year I finished three photo books, which was a surprise as I wasn't originally sure I could make one. I wrote some practical instructions on how to make both a good-quality pdf file and a printed book with Blurb, using the Apple Pages software (and Ghostscript to generate pdfs and jpegs).

Here is the list of photo books which I have done in 2009-2010:

• Summer in black and white squared (SoFoBoMo 2010; 14 MB PDF file)
  
  • Blurb version available
• Impressions of Midsummer's Eve (SoFoBoMo 2010; 4 MB PDF file)
  
  • Blurb version available
• Filling the square: play and dream (SoFoBoMo 2010; 6 MB PDF file)
  
  • Blurb version available
• A Walk in Copenhagen (SoFoBoMo 2009; 8 MB PDF file)
  
  • Blurb version available
• Wetness of Spring (1 MB PDF file)
  

Of these, I like best the Midsummer book, which was done in two days: 12 hours to take photographs and a couple of hours to do the typesetting. It is rough, but also spontaneous.

And this reminds me of the recent discussion about themes. I thought about this in connection to photo books, and there the idea of a theme is most natural, and in fact the key to making a photo book in the first place.

Theme photography vs. stereotypes

Blur, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Blur, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Earlier I wrote about stereotypes, such as "twig photographer" or "bike photographer". But there is another side to the matter, namely themes. TOP has made a couple of excellent postings about themes, and this got me thinking.

Do I like themes? Or is it better to work without a theme, only later discovering whether such a thing exists or not?

The photographs here demonstrate a kind of theme, which I have used once in a while, and which seems to provide endless possibilities: motion blur photography. Also, a week or so ago I took photographs of various vehicles - boat, train, tram, bus, car, motorbike etc. - and it was sort of nice to have such a thing going.

Another example of a theme - decided before taking the photographs - are the SoFoBoMo books from this year, all three of them. And it was good to have a theme, to develop it further, to discover new facets of the theme.

However, generally I don't like to have a theme. I want as much freedom as possible, not limiting to one theme or topic. So I guess I'm bit of both - a photographer who likes to have a theme, and one who doesn't like to have a theme. Go figure.