Single image or project image?

Over the years I've done a number of projects. For instance, several years ago I did a year-long self-assigned project on homelessness, interviewing and making portraits of one-hundred men living on the streets of Baltimore. (You can see a sampling here.) Other projects came along as well, some the result of a client assignment, like the Maine Literary Portrait Project which was done in conjunction with the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. Regardless of how they came about, projects have been a major factor in my growth as a photographer.

Then there is the making of an image not related to a project or a theme, the single image. These are images we make when something catches our attention. They come from observation, from being attuned to one's surroundings, from being mindful. They may (eventually) fall into a theme or category but we don't make them for that reason. We make them because, well, because we simply want to make them. Make enough of them and you might discover a theme eventually. Steve McCurry, for example, made images of people reading over many years of travel and observation. Eventually he realized that he had a theme in the making and collected the images into a book.

Most of my photo efforts fall into the project category. A project may be simple and broad, say, black and white photos of everyday objects. Or it may be very specific, make portraits of writers in their work spaces, for example. Regardless of how you define the project, it provides a point of reference, a discipline by which you can set to work efficiently. Hemingway advised writers to stop their day's work in mid-sentence. This practice, he said, will set up the next day's writing. You will simply pick up where you left off and never get stuck. A project is like that, you don't start anew, you just keep going. A foundation has been laid and you build upon it.

The single image is, paradoxically, more challenging. It is the blank page. We all have single images in our portfolio, that is, the photograph we made that is not directly related to a theme or consistent body of work. I have discovered that these images, when they are good, are born from a place pure openness. They are the images I make when I am untethered and not directly thinking about a theme. In the best case, they are created in a state of flow. This image, for instance, came about as a result of aimless wandering one foggy day with my camera.

I record project ideas in my journal. If I were to execute all of them I'd have plenty to keep me busy for several years. I jot them down, think about them, perhaps do a bit of research, then I let the idea rest for a while. Some come to fruition, some go by the wayside. The point is, I know my creative self well enough to know that I need a project or two to keep me focused and motivated. If pressed, I'd venture that project-related photography comprises around 80% of my photographic life. The image below, for instance, is from a new project I'm working out. I call it Project Amerika. I don't have a clear vision yet to define it properly, I just know it is documentary in style, and is an attempt to portray a sliver of modern America as I see it. As the project progresses, it will likely come into better focus. (No pun intended.) It is something akin to a draft at this point.

To quickly summarize, a photography project is the visual interpretation of a theme represented by a collection of images related to that theme. Or at least, that is my working definition. A project is an important key to disciplined photography and in my experience the fastest way to grow as a photographer.

I've run out of room in today's post but still have things to say about the process of single-image image making. I'll pick that up in the next post.

Thanks for reading. You can find me at Doug Bruns Photography and also at Glass Photo. Now go out and make some photographs.