Unveiling the Plan!

So for the last few weeks I've been hinting at a special project that I'm going to be working on, and well today is the day to unleash those plans on an unsuspecting world.

First, the reasoning.

Today is my 27th birthday. I'm now three years away from my goal of being a profitable photographer and for the last month I've been trying to figure out how I can improve both my portfolio and my skills. The barrier to this being a lack of actual commissioned work.

I've been doing a lot of running around shooting things as they happen in the community taking the photojournalist route of learning this craft, but it's time for me to work on my studio work. That's a little scary to state, but having tried a bunch of different things out this year, and having conversations with fellow photographers, I've come to the conclusion that: 1.) Wedding photography is not for me 2.) I don't want to be locked into a pure portrait based business either 3.) Although I love the concept of photojournalism and becoming this transient being that roams the world shooting in the face of danger...that's not me...I love some stability. 4.) Commercial photography (what you see in magazines etc) is really where I want to do my work...whether that's in fashion or commercial portraiture... ideally I want to shoot people, but I want to see my pictures in Vogue, in the fashion spreads of Vanity Fair...you know...that sort of work.

So working backwards from my goal...how do I work to achieve that.... Many people do a photo a day project where they work hard to take and post a picture each and every day for a year. Yeah I tried that in the spring...didn't go so well.... Okay so there needed to be both a timeline and something that would allow me to not get caught up in the intense daily process.

Okay okay...so the plan....

Starting today and ending in 2009 on this day I'm going to do a photoshoot a month for FREE...haha NOW you see it all coming together don't you. The ideas can be suggested by people, I welcome volunteers to be my subjects, but for the most part the shoots will be my doing from concept, sourcing, planning, execution to completion and posting to this blog, my flickr account and my website that I'm working on building.

So here are the rules I'm setting out for myself:

1. One shoot a month.
2. Shoot must involve a lighting setup of some kind.
3. Shoot must be FREE and for the building of my portfolio.
4. Shoots must involve people...not necessarily "models" but
5. I must still shoot for myself a minimum of once a week.
6. I must share my successes, failures and photos with you.

There you have it! Feel free to suggest ideas for shoot themes, volunteer yourself to be in the shoot, suggest locations for shoots to happen!! Really I'm open to any possibilities that this project may present.

Next year at this time I hope to have 12 amazing shoots to look back on and yes, the project starts tomorrow. I have a shoot at 5:30 tomorrow night that is mine all mine.. I'll share pictures when they're ready!

More soon...