Backyard Mini-Project

Ever wonder about projects or exercises where a photographer confines him/herself to a set space? Or how about using just one piece of equipment? Honestly, I've never had much interest in doing such a thing until recently. Shooting the trees (see previous blog entry) got me thinking about trying new things.

Two weekends ago, on a sunny Sunday at home, I challenged myself to such a project: shoot in the backyard with just one lens.

click to see more photos

Like the trees mini-project, I was pleasantly surprised by the effects of this exercise. The photos aren't really the greatest, but I wanted to share them just to illustrate what I did.

A good photo-buddy of mine once said that he'd be hard-pressed to produce compelling images from the backyard, and I agreed with him. But I have to say that once I got into the spirit of this exercise, I began to see photos everywhere.

Using one focal length was an additional challenge. However, it made me realize that I could use that one lens to it's full potential and that was a valuable learning experience. This particular lens (Canon 24mm f/1.4 Mark 2) has a very large maximum aperture and a small minimum focusing distance (it's not real macro, but it can focus very close to things) as compared to the lenses I'm used to using.

High Lonesome Trees Project

I've mentioned shooting the trees on the High Lonesome Ranch as my main subject here recently. I pulled together 12 shots from this "mini-project": click here.

click to see project page

This is the final selection from my work. Overall, I'm pleased with my photos, but I'm mostly happy about the experience I gained. I've never before confined my work to such a specific criteria, and frankly, I've been apprehensive to do so. My shooting time is limited and valuable to me. But I have to say I found the experience to be worthwhile.

Please check out the final gallery here and also read the previous two entries (see below) in my blog as well as this older entry from last year for more insight on this mini-project.

Updates 3 of 3 - Visions of Big Bend

And finally, I've updated my Visions of Big Bend photography project. I made some significant changes, such as creating new categories and deleting old ones within the main gallery. I've also updated the gallery with photos from my recent trip to the park.

click for project page

I used the new gallery format too. When you view each photo, the sub-gallery, or "series", will show up below in thumbnail size. This should make browsing easier. Enjoy!

Project-wise, I'm still very much into this photo project and will continue to shoot Big Bend National Park indefinitely. I have a planned week-long trip to the park about a year from now, and hopefully I'll get to make another trip next year sometime. So, updates to the project page will be a ways off, but please stay tuned!