Make 2023 a year of innovative breakthrough. We all know the key to getting better is consistency. Doing something over and over once again will ultimately make you much better at anything. 52Frames is a photography neighborhood that encourages you to enhance by focusing on consistency over excellence: a picture every week for a year. Photography, like any other ability, requires practice. It’s like going to the health club: you need a training strategy, with clear objectives and ways to achieve them.
What Is 52Frames?
52Frames is an online community that assists individuals to participate in innovative play and individual growth through a weekly photo challenge.
Picture Credit – Amanda Powell, Week 20: Abstract (2022 )
It is a friendly community of individuals who want to enhance their camera abilities in a fun and simple method. There is actually a hidden photography lesson behind every week’s challenge. The challenges encourage the photographers (who call themselves “”) to feel innovative freedom and express their own creative take on their submissions. Week 29 of this year, for instance, was “Common Item,” which permitted the Framers to take pause throughout the week and observe the lots of photographic chances around them that they would usually just pass by. Possibly this is among the beautiful things about 52Frames: everybody responds to the very same quick in a different way. The outcome resembles taking a virtual trip around the globe through the album each week.
Picture Credit: Week Michelle Robbins- Daniels, Week 29: Typical Object (2022 )
Not a Competition, but Rather a Difficulty
52Frames is not a competitors, but rather a creative exercise. The point of 52Frames is not to take the best photo of your profession, but rather to take a photo each and each week. 52Frames motivates you to train your innovative muscles, at whatever level you are at.
Although 52Frames is not technically a competition, there are some honors offered each week to highlight a few of the standout submissions. These are selected by committees made up of both amateur and expert photographers, and, of course, each committee member has their own private taste concerning creative principle, technical execution, and overall story.
There is a long list of components that make up an excellent photo, however the more images you take, the much better you will get, and more notably, the much better you will understand which active ingredients formulate a strong photo.
How Does It Work?
Every week, 52Frames concerns an obstacle, which often is a new chance to explore outdoors your comfort zone and discover something brand-new. The challenges may be focused around a strategy, like a concept of structure, or it might be something more imaginative and story-driven, like “Red.” Levitation Week motivated the members to learn layer masking in Photoshop. Fast Shutter Speed Week was an opportunity to capture fast-moving subjects and learn to work with your shutter controls. One obstacle that stood apart to me personally was Picture of a Stranger. Being a studio professional photographer, I am mostly comfy with my subjects. Simply put, they know why they are there, and I merely need to photograph them. Heading out on the street and asking a complete stranger to take their photograph is an entire different ballgame.
Photo Credit: Kevin Mathews, Week 37: Picture of a Stranger (2022 )
Picture Credit: Laura Cali, Week 31: Select a Color (2022 )
I tried taking images of complete strangers a couple of years back. Being not the most outgoing individual, this was more of a workout to push myself personally than to develop terrific photography. At the same time, nevertheless, I wound up learning more about a few intriguing people, one of them being a fellow professional photographer. It is reasonable to say that this encounter would not have occurred if I wasn’t pressed beyond my convenience zone. Sure, this sounds a little cliché, however try it for yourselves and see the magic occur. The point isn’t to make buddies or connections; the point is to leave your comfort zone. And this will extend into things in your life beyond simply photography.
Convenience, Stretch, and Discomfort
Leaving your comfort zone is maybe among the very best ways to learn. Generally, there are 3 zones we discover ourselves in: comfort, stretch, and discomfort. Remaining in the convenience zone is our default. It also can get rather uninteresting doing the exact same job over and over again.
Being in the discomfort zone is not exactly inspiring or enjoyable either. For instance, if I was worked with to shoot a feline for a Whiskas commercial, I would decrease, as animal photography would be extremely unpleasant for me.
The stretch zone is where 52Frames intends to put you: simply on the limit of what you are comfy with.
I have actually found the stretch zone to be the very best place for knowing, as you are able to construct on the abilities you are comfy with. Eventually, as your stretch zone becomes your comfort zone, your pain zone is now a stretch zone. If that was confusing, check out that sentence once again.
Going back to my Whiskas industrial example, I am comfy with photographing a human who may hold the cat food. It would be a stretch to photo a human holding a feline, and ultimately, it would be uneasy to shoot simply a feline.
Another example would be with learning how to utilize flash. Lots of photographers are comfy with utilizing one light. It would be a stretch to use two and unpleasant to use intricate lighting with special modifiers.
The point is: our convenience, stretch, and discomfort zones are various. By participating in 52Frames, you can really explore what you can and can’t do, get acquainted with the level you’re operating at, and ultimately, break out of your convenience zone and progress.
Last Thoughts
52Frames users have actually commented that after a year of weekly challenges, their photography is on a different level than when they started. They have produced more compelling work and, maybe more notably, wound up seeing the world in a totally brand-new method.
52Frames is a neighborhood of photographers, such as you, who want to get better and assist others be much better. If you are searching for a supportive and creative community to make your photography much better one week at a time, have a look at 52Frames.