52 of Me

Half way.  Half way through 52 weeks of portraits of me and the little man.

And after twenty-six weeks, this project has bored me to tears.  And if I am, you surely are.

But I’ve told myself that I can’t give up.  I want to finish something that I started.  It’s the same reason I hesitated when my son said he didn’t want to do karate lessons anymore because “it was too hard.”  I don’t want him to learn that it’s OK to give up on something just because you find it difficult.  (Note: He wasn’t having fun so we don’t do karate anymore.  And at three years old, fun trumps moral lesson.)

But nothing says that you can’t take a step back and reinvent, rediscover your purpose.  So I’ve had a think about what I’m really trying to accomplish.

52 of Him?  I want to capture all the everyday moments that makeup my son’s life, and not just the images but the stories.  Yes, I want to use this as a way of improving as a photographer but longer term, it’s the memories I want to capture.

52 of Me?  As someone behind the lens, I felt it important for me to start documenting my life and telling my own stories.  And taking self-portraits has opened up a whole new world of creative possibilities.

The thing is though that I’m taking these pictures whether I post them online as part of a 52 week project or not.  And lately the obligation I’ve felt to post something here each week about each of us has made me hate this.  It’s had me posting things just for the sake of ticking a box and not actually as a result of an intentional creative process.  And, I’ve been so focused on the images that I’m losing the stories, not finding the time to actually put words together in sentences.

So there won’t be 52 of Him or 52 of Me any more.  Will there still be photos of us?  Yes, of course. But I want to make more of an effort to include those photos as part of a story instead of as just another number in a series.  And, I’m still taking part in Now You Workshops 52 of You so you can follow along with my self-portrait journey on Flickr.

But wait, you said you weren’t giving up.  I’m not, I’m reinventing.  Looking through my photos and thinking about what I’d like to spend the next twenty-six weeks sharing here, I’ve realised that there is one type of photo in short supply.  One that, without thought and intention, I do not regularly take.

Photos of US, me and him together.

So for the next twenty-six weeks, that will be what this series is about, getting the two of us in a frame together.  And as I’ve done a few of these, I’ve found that this is a great way to get my son interested in photography.  He’s not just being stalked by me.  He’s participating in the process and even pushing the shutter button.

Welcome to 52 of Us!

I’m curious – how many of you have started photography projects and lost the drive to continue?  What keeps you motivated?