I finished my 12 in 12 project on February 18, 2023. The easiest way to see my 12 photos is to watch the short (82 seconds) video below.

The idea of the project was to

• go to 12 places,

• 4 times a year, and

• make 12 significant photographs.

This project was the brainchild of Chris Sale, whose inspiration was Ansel Adams’ idea that 12 significant photos a year is a good accomplishment. The goal was to learn how to plan a project while adding to our portfolios.

I did mine a little differently. That’s a polite way of saying I got way behind. Moving my day job office in July and my general dislike of summer led me not to shoot between July 4th and October 30th. That four month gap was definitely a mea culpa moment and leads to my first lesson. I need to do what it takes—get up early before the heat or do something creative with the summer heat—and shoot all year.

I also learned that a year-long project needs to cover a pretty big area. I picked The Parklands of Floyd’s Fork for my project. Frankly, I got tired of feeling like I had to go back to the same place. As much as I love the Parklands, there were times I wanted to try something different. Part of the reason I wanted to try something different is that I wasn’t going because I wanted to make a specific photo but because I needed more from that location. And that’s another lesson. I need to think through the story I want to tell before starting a project. Instead, I fell back on an old habit of assuming it would come to me. There’s an arrogance or laziness in that thought process, and I’m not proud of it. Shaking that attitude is important for my growth.

As a result of those limits on time and space, I only ended up with 30 photos instead of the 48 inherent in the project’s design. I think two or maybe three of those photos could be portfolio pieces, and I made a couple more that didn’t fit the project but were still nice. Even though one in ten seems like a pretty good success rate, that’s because I was making a concentrated effort rather than just hoping I’d find something. I learned that I have to work intentionally to get portfolio quality shots. The f/8 and be there method just doesn’t work for me. It’s true that the more I shoot, the more chance I have to make good photos. But, the intentional part is shooting well—not merely more.

Along those lines of honing my technique, I learned two substantive things about the pictures I like to make:

1.     While I like making photos of details, it’s much harder to tell a story with those.

2.     While I enjoy making abstract views, those are also hard to blend into a larger story.

All in all, I had fun. The project was a success: I made some photos that I’m proud of and I made friends with some other photographers who focus on The Parklands.

How about you? Do you have any photo projects? Has photography broadened your circle of friends?