Starting a New Art Project.
While every artist has a different opinion on the subject, to me, projects are an important part of your body of work. They show that you can develop an idea and stick with it. They prove that you are capable of making thoughtful images consistently, rather than getting lucky with one good shot. They give you a direction to work towards, and provide an intention for your work.
I love working on projects, but there are a lot of steps that go into the process. So, how does a project start?
It seems that each artist has a different method of developing a body of work. In my own experience, I have different projects that have arisen in different ways. Looking at the book “Photo Work: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice,” compiled by Sasha Wolf, we can gain insight into the ways that different photographers work. Here are a couple examples.
Pre-Planning
When asked whether a project is created from an idea or from a group of photographs that come to form a concept, Abelardo Morell writes that the idea is usually the start to a project. In his words, “The real evolution comes from the making of the pictures and the testing of how reality shapes what I originally envisioned. However, the first mindful concept is super important because it involves a sort of primitive birth…” (pg 148).
For me, Mystery & Manifestations started as a planned project, which over time evolved in some unexpected ways. Originally, I knew I wanted to create work with meaning related to a theme that was important to me. I decided to go with something spiritual, and I developed the idea to pair up quotes from ancient Taoist texts with photos that I thought illustrated certain principles. Thus, the foundations of the project were laid. Taking it further, I made a long list of potential quotes and jotted down some ideas for scenes that I thought related to each one. Then I started photographing. As time went on, the project continued to change form and become something new.
a preplanned image from Mystery & Manifestations
Spontaneity
When asked the same question about starting a project, Rinko Kawauchi says that for her, the photographs come first. She explains that in her projects, she carefully compiles photographs she has made over the years which fit into a certain concept. To finish it off, she will then create new work to fill any gaps within her vision for the series (pg 108).
My newest work is currently project-less, though I can feel myself moving towards a concept. Admittedly, I haven’t been able to stick with an idea to completion recently, as they are not holding enough of my interest. Therefore, I’ve just been photographing the things that catch my eye and seeing where it takes me.
new work that was completely unplanned
As it turns out, I’m seeing some common subjects and themes in my new work. This seems to be the start of another project. Finding commonalities in your own photos and assembling it all into a cohesive body of work is a perfectly valid way of starting a project. This can either be done fully, where all of the photos in the series are images you already took, or it can be a starting point. In this particular instance, noticing similarities in my new photos is motivating me to continue to create images along the same vein. Now I have to ask myself some questions about exactly where I want this project to go. More on that in a future blog post!
another unplanned image, which relates to other new work I’ve been producing
How do you start your projects? Is it one or the other of these means, or something in between?
