One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010 is to shoot more, post more and really dedicate the time to improving my photography. LightRoom tells me that 2009 had more exposures taken than any previous year which came as a bit of a surprise. Still, it feels like my growth as a photographer slowed a bit in 2009 and in order to make sure that doesn’t happen in 2010 I have taken on a new project.

My 52 week photography project (or “challenge” if you will) is an effort to help make sure I am shooting regularly. More importantly, it is also designed to stretch me a bit and take me outside my comfort zone. There are many variations to these types of challenges but all involve picking some sort of theme, subject, photography genre or style you want to explore for an entire year. My self imposed rules for my 52 week photography project is as follows:

• My subject is “people” – and the key here is that the subject of the photograph cannot be someone in my immediate family (or me). I am going to have to approach a total stranger or find a friend who is willing to have their picture taken for my project. It would be far too easy to grab Michelle or a niece and say “ok time for this week’s picture”. That is too easy!
• A new photograph must be taken each week – I can’t shoot a bunch of photographs now and milk them for the entire year. A fresh subject, variations in the lighting, etc are a must. I also cannot post multiple images of the same person throughought the year – it is one and done.
• All pictures for the 52 week project must be posted by the end of day Saturday (that means I have until 11:59PM Arizona time to post it here for those of you keeping track).
• All photographs will be taken with my SLR – no iPhone shots!
• I have asked my friend Mark Wallace to keep me honest – if he finds me taking shortcuts to meet the assignment he can change the rules.

The reason why I have selected people as my subject is I have enough shots of landscapes, flowers, buildings, wildlife in my collection. People are unpredictable, interesting and perhaps the photograph will tell a bit about the subject being photographed. Also, some people simply do not want their picture taken and I always ask before taking someone’s photograph – if I am rejected I have to deal with it and move on. No matter what I have to complete the assignment for that week!

If you have other suggestions for rules or thoughts on the project feel free to post them. I look forward to seeing where this assignment takes me and the interesting peopel I am bound to meet!