A Month of Photography

Let’s talk National Photography Month. I know what you are thinking: “Isn’t every month the month of photography?”With unlimited, modern, technological wonders at our fingertips it is evident that photography is more popular than ever before, but this popularity comes with a price tag.

It’s been said, “Attention is the currency being traded.” These days, we are so bombarded with visual information, it can be difficult to make sense of it all. It can be even more difficult to give the attention required to actually understand what we are seeing. It can be difficult to give our attention to actually seeing the world around us.

So what if we look at a Month of Photography as a power month, a month to train, practice and get better as photographers by making ONLY the best work we can make? Instead of filters and likes, let’s think about things like light, timing, and composition—the essential building blocks of any serious image.  Let’s throw popularity to the wind and focus on editing, sequencing, and publishing our photography. In other words, let’s work with intent when making pictures.

One of the best ways to advance your photography is to begin working with theme. Choose a story—a narrative—and begin to build a body of photographs instead of random images. So consider taking the Month of Photography to focus on your theme for the entire month. Your theme could be family, a travel destination, or even the intersection of two streets you find interesting. The goal is to build depth, so choose whatever theme you can access for the entire month. Then, return over and over again until you emerge with a body of work.

Think about things like: What is the best single image? Which images work well together? Are there holes in the story or your theme? My advice is to print your best edits. Simple, small prints work fine, then lay those prints out on a table or floor and physically watch your story begin to build. Giving yourself an entire month, especially if you can photograph every day, is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the idea of the photo-essay. It will allow you to keep only the essentials of great photography in mind.

Think: Thirty-days of intention.