5 Tips for Your Documentary Photography Project | Documenting Your ‘Now’
Today is day 71. The seventy-first day of 2017. Why do I know this? Because I’ve been working on a documentary photography project. It’s called a 365 project and the intention is to take one photograph each day for 365 days. Each photograph is named for the day it was taken, and the result after a full year of daily photographs is pretty amazing. I thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned during these first 71 days, in hopes that it inspires you to begin a project of your own.
- Give it time. When I first started, I had no idea what to photograph. I just knew I wanted to take a photograph each day, so I would randomly walk up to my children and snap a shot of them laying on the floor and call it good. After a week I was certain I’d end up with some haphazard collection of images that made no sense at all. Surprisingly though, I looked at them and remembered details from each day that normally would have been forgotten. How my oldest was grumpy when I interrupted her episode of Curious George to photograph her. And how the next day my girls were in pajamas because they had both come down with fevers and had to stay home from school. How my youngest was obsessed with baby dolls and had to carry ALL of them at the same time, no matter what. Looking back at a week of work made me think about the details and memories I wanted to capture and document moving forward.
2. Shoot to tell a story. Something pretty magical starts to happen when you build up a couple weeks of daily photography. Not only will you see growth in your work, but more importantly when you look at the images as a collection, they’ll begin to tell a story. You’ll page through the album or shuffle through the loose prints, and the memories of the past year will come flooding back. Think about the activities that make up your daily routine. They might not seem exciting now, but when you look back on photographs of them you’ll be amazed. For example, I remember when my second daughter was born. My oldest was not even two, and she used to lay on my legs on the recliner and read a book or watch cartoons as I’d nurse her sister. I desperately wish I had a photograph to document that memory!
3. If you miss a day (or 5 in a row) give yourself a break. When I started this project, I knew I was going to fail. I knew 100% that I would not be able to take a photograph every single day. And I was right. So far, my “365” is on pace to be more like a “210”. There’s definitely been busy days or days when I just don’t feel like picking up my camera. But there’s also been days where I start to see things I wouldn’t have seen before. The way my daughter looks standing on a stool in the kitchen helping my mom make a coffee cake. That adorable necklace she came home from preschool wearing and was so proud of herself for making. Even though I’ve missed some days along the way, the overall intention of documenting our daily life is still happening. And that’s what makes me continue to pick up the camera.
4. Let it change you. When I look back at the photographs I took earlier in the year, I remember the seemingly mundane things about that day and realize they are not mundane at all. I remember how we played blocks on the floor right after I photographed my daughter in the living room, and how she giggled until she had hiccups because of the jokes we were telling. It makes me want to put down my phone or my to-do list and start making more of those memories with my family.
5. Print your pictures. Make an album. Print 4×6’s for a photo box. Buy a slip in photo album from Walmart. It does not matter how fancy your method is, just get your photographs off your computer and phone and into your hands. Holding tangible prints in your hands make the memories more real. Plus, hard drives crash and phones get lost. You worked hard to document these memories and you want to be able to enjoy them for years to come, and pass them on to your children someday.
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