Moving Forward

I've never been much for New Years Resolutions however, I am always on the search for ways to motivate and improve my life personally and professionally. Thus, instead of writing out the old let's accomplish 10 things blah blah blah I am making myself accountable in a different more artys way; ergo projects. A main focus for most artists to keep on track or get back on track with their art is to give themselves (or in some cases have someone else) give them a project which will motivate, inspire and push ones creative boundaries. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a thousand project ideas running through my brain on a daily basis. However, ideas are just that moments in time of a passing thought until put to fruitation. Thus, every so often when I feel a bit stuck or burnt out from commercial work, one of these ideas plays on repeat so much so that I feel entitled to share it with the world and not just let it fester in my world wind of psychosis.
So in honor of a new year and the continued creation of my second book "Ashe's Rising" I have decided to take on a 52 week challenge. What is that you might ask? The 52 week challenge has many variations, yet I like to keep things simple. Basically for the year of 2018 once a week I will be posting an image to my social media and website based on a theme using limited materials. So I will be photographing my Nikon point and shoot camera (which was my talisman from my first book "Ashe in Wanderland") as my theme aka reference item. With this object I will be using only my GoPro Hero 5 camera to take the picture (my limited material). And really that's it. Each image can be taken anywhere at anytime or any day I choose as long as it is a picture of the Nikon camera photographed using my GoPro Hero 5 once a week for the whole year. Sounds simple enough right. Well, yes and no. The concept is straight forward however, the exciting and sometimes frustrating/challenging part is pushing your brain past the mundane and thinking outside the box. What I mean by that is where to photograph? How does it tie into my weeks adventures? When to take it? What are my cameras limits and capabilities? Who can I involve to be a part of it? In the end there are so many open questions it is an artist/photographer's nightmare and dream come true at the same time!
A few years ago I did a similar project using a coffee cup as my object and my iphone as the limit material and man was it a fun ride! Each image was unique yet as a whole made for an awesome body of work. I am hoping to have just as exciting and stimulating results with this project also. In addition, with the new year and a new body of work being created, I am hopeful that this will also help to further my commercial career in terms of thinking outside the box and pushing me to take chances to make me stronger and more confident as an artist and person.
All in all I am officially ready to say goodbye to the rollercoaster ride of 2017 and hello to new adventures, projects, artwork, friends and clients in 2018. Let the adventure continue!

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