It’s the beginning of a new year, a traditional time of reflection, of making lists, of setting goals and for the motivated photographer, a time for planning photo projects to shoot throughout the year. Since I’m no stranger when it comes to photo projects, I thought I’d share with you some of the projects that I have completed in the past, or am currently working on now, to give you some ideas for planning your own photo project this year.

365 – A photo a day shared on a social media platform (or not)
This was a game changer for me, shifting my shooting and editing skills from advanced hobbyist onto a professional platform. Practice makes perfect, so if you’re looking to improve your shooting skills, might as well jump in with two feet. If you’d like to hear some other perspectives on shooting a 365, click HERE to read what other Viewfinders have had to say about their own 365 project.

52 Weeks of BAM – A self-portrait taken once every week
Before the mobile phone “selfie,” we used to have to set the timer on our cameras to capture a self-portrait, although I freely admit to shooting many of these “at arm’s length” or reflected in a mirror. If you’re uncomfortable having your photo taken, this is the project for you. Not only will you find your “good side,” you’ll begin to feel more natural in front of the camera, and I promise that you’ll love looking at these photos later and wish you’d taken more. I completed mine across my 37th year, and then made it on and off through the next, and looking back, I wish that I’d stuck with it to complete 38. Now, I’m thinking it might be time to try this again. How about you?

The Hours – A yearly photo project shooting through time
This project was a collaboration with a group of photography friends that I met on Flickr shortly after I began sharing my work. We shared a photo taken during the same hour once a month beginning at 7am. In a year where taking photos with my “big girl camera” had begun to dwindle, this was a way of keeping in photo flow, even if for just one hour a month.

The Mug Chronicles – A daily themed photo project
A daily themed photo project maintaining one constant, which in my case is my morning coffee in a yellow mug taken “from where I stand” in my back yard. Over the past six and a half years I’ve been working on the project,  there have been slight deviations, like when I’m traveling or having coffee in the corner park up the street, but every photos still carries the same theme: looking down at my coffee “from where I stand.” I’ve also created sub-projects within the main project too. For example, after we joined a CSA, I started showcasing our bi-weekly share throughout the summer, but even these variations are all photographed the same way.

And there you have it! Four totally different photos from four totally different photo projects! Oh, there are others that I’m working on that might interest you:
Making Space, where I photograph things before I pass them along
My365 app, where I’ve been uploading a daily iPhone photo since 2012. These are mostly snapshots and often I use my coffee shot, and full confession: I update every few weeks or months while watching TV
Monthly Instagram Photo Challenges, this month I’m doing Susanna Conway’s #gentlejanuary

But the above four are a few of the biggees. I hope these ideas have helped to spark some ideas of your own! Are you working on a photo project right now? HERE are some more ideas to other photo projects we’ve written about, that you can check out too! Please share with us in the comments, and be sure to include links to your work so that we can see them.

Until Next Time,
Holly ~ Soupatraveler