Photo-A-Day Question

[abluesheep]

Hi,

I'm a new pbase user (and a to photography in general, since I only started "serious" photography in April 2004!)

For those of you who have PaD galleries, how do you guys find the time to shoot everyday? I think it would a great challenge, and an excellent opportunity for me to improve, but considering that I work 12 hour days, on average, I can't figure out how to take decent pics (unless I purely do night photography)!

How do you PaD posters manage to fit in this much photography with demanding lifestyles? The only thing I can think of is trying to cram in photography before work everyday... but can't really see that happening...

I'm looking forward to your responses!

In the meantime, if you have time, please visit my galleries http://www.pbase.com/abluesheep/
and leave me some comments!

[1meven]

Well...I will be the first to admit that my job is not THAT demanding. I work about 30 hours a week at my job and am in a band that takes me out of town a lot...giving me even more stuff to shoot...so if I worked 12 hour days I don't know WHAT I would do...But I do OFTEN have days where I am stuck at work or home and am forced to try and see what's there. An entire YEAR of that wouldn't be fun though. lol I don't know that I have helped at all. I would say if you want to try and do it the try waking up a bit early sometimes, sometimes use your lunch, Take night pictures, Buy lights and do studio stuff, point the picture at your own head a lot!...lol...and sometimes even sneak that camera into work! It's fun and if you want to do it...you can do it! It just takes WANTING TO!

I wish you luck...and am sorry I rambled so much.

Meven

[jtom]

Ok, you wouldn't know it from my PaD gallery, but I've done this before. In college, we had to take a shot a day outside of our normal assignments. All this is is an exercise in practice. It's supposed to build speed and train your eyes to look for potential shots.

1) I don't know if you have an office job or what, but if you can, take your camera to work with you. There is nothing wrong with taking a picture of the contents of your desk if you like the light. Co-workers will get used to having you around with a camera, and eventually they'll losen up. 12 hour days sound stressful, so hopefully you're taking breaks in the day periodically. Go for a 10 minute walk with your camera.

2) I make a list of backup ideas. I keep a pad (ha!) next to my bed and I write down simple ideas for shots that I can compose in the confines of my apartment. Yesterday is a great example. I took a lot of crap. It happens. There's nothing you can do about it. So I took a frustrated self portrait. Tons of people do this for their pad shots. You learn a lot from trying to portray a mundane subject dramatically. Contents for the list could be family members, pets, heirloom items from around the house, nearby architecture, thematic scenes. Keep them static so you can use long exposures if you don't have a lighting setup.

3) Night shots. I take a lot of them. I've always been a night owl, but don't be afraid of a tripod and long exposures.

Hope that helps, good luck!

[matiasasun]

Ha. Looks like taking photos can not be compared with lunch.

[abluesheep]

Thanks for your comments so far!

meven: *sigh* I was hoping that waking up could be avoided... but your suggestion for the studio stuff is definitely interesting! And I have an annoying pommeranian (sp?) at home who just loves to pose!

jtom: Thanks for your suggestions! It's nice to get advice from someone who's "been there before"! I guess the hard part is the discipline of getting into a routine for me... so far, it's more a case of "the light today is SO perfect! Have to go out to take some pics!"... Guess that's the whole point of the discipline of a PaD gallery...

Guess the first thing to do is to consider getting (yet) another camera tho... don't think my bosses will be too pleased with me toting a canon 10d+battery pack+huge lens around the client's office...

[jtom]

yeah, totally. I'm planning on picking up a Pentax Optio S for my PaD stuff eventually. They're tiny and inconspicuous. The new Leica.

[juliano]

PAD for me ... Well, it is a good tool for me to release my pressure. When you look at my PAD, you will see that when I do have a bad day at work, I used my PAD pic to tell the world that I have a bad day! One good example is http://www.pbase.com/image/31524020.

Of course, to manage to have a picture per day ... You have to brng your camera with you all the time and make sure that don't miss any good chance.

[neda_atash]

It's easy for me... I am in love with my camera...

[abluesheep]

Hehehe neda_atash,

Aren't we ALL in love with our cameras? I certainly WISH I could be with mine all the time...

Thanks for the thought tho!