Make 2023 a year of innovative breakthrough. All of us understand the secret to getting better is consistency. Doing something over and over again will ultimately make you much better at anything. 52Frames is a photography neighborhood that motivates you to improve by prioritizing consistency over excellence: a picture weekly for a year. Photography, like any other skill, requires practice. It’s like going to the health club: you require a training strategy, with clear goals and ways to accomplish them.
What Is 52Frames?
52Frames is an online community that helps people to take part in imaginative play and individual growth through a weekly image obstacle.
Photo Credit – Amanda Powell, Week 20: Abstract (2022 )
It is a friendly community of individuals who wish to enhance their cam skills in an enjoyable and easy way. There is in fact a concealed photography lesson behind each week’s obstacle. The difficulties motivate the professional photographers (who call themselves “Framers”) to feel innovative liberty and express their own innovative take on their submissions. Week 29 of this year, for instance, was “Typical Item,” which allowed the to take pause throughout the week and observe the lots of photographic opportunities around them that they would normally simply go by. Perhaps this is one of the lovely things about 52Frames: everybody reacts to the same short in a different way. The outcome is like taking a virtual trip around the globe through the album every week.
Image Credit: Week Michelle Robbins- Daniels, Week 29: Typical Item (2022 )
Not a Competitors, however Rather a Difficulty
52Frames is not a competition, but rather an imaginative workout. The point of 52Frames is not to take the finest photo of your career, but rather to take a picture each and weekly. 52Frames motivates you to train your innovative muscles, at whatever level you are at.
Although 52Frames is not technically a competitors, there are some honors given out weekly to highlight a few of the standout submissions. These are picked by committees comprised of both amateur and expert photographers, and, obviously, each committee member has their own individual taste relating to innovative concept, technical execution, and overall story.
There is a very long list of ingredients that comprise an excellent photo, however the more photos you take, the better you will get, and more notably, the better you will understand which components cook up a strong photo.
How Does It Work?
Every week, 52Frames problems a difficulty, which frequently is a new opportunity to explore outdoors your convenience zone and find out something new. The obstacles may be focused around a method, like a concept of composition, or it might be something more innovative and story-driven, like “Red.” Levitation Week inspired the members to discover layer masking in Photoshop. Quick Shutter Speed Week was an opportunity to record fast-moving topics and find out to deal with your shutter controls. One challenge that stood out to me personally was Picture of a Stranger. Being a studio photographer, I am primarily comfortable with my topics. In other words, they understand why they exist, and I just need to photo them. Heading out on the street and asking a complete stranger to take their photograph is a whole various ballgame.
Image Credit: Kevin Mathews, Week 37: Picture of a Stranger (2022 )
Picture Credit: Laura Cali, Week 31: Select a Color (2022 )
I tried taking pictures of complete strangers a couple of years back. Being not the most outgoing person, this was more of a workout to push myself personally than to produce great photography. In the process, nevertheless, I ended up getting to know a couple of fascinating people, one of them being a fellow professional photographer. It is reasonable to state that this encounter would not have actually happened if I wasn’t pressed beyond my comfort zone. Sure, this sounds a little cliché, however try it for yourselves and see the magic take place. The point isn’t to make pals 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 methods to find out. Usually, there are three zones we discover ourselves in: convenience, stretch, and pain. Remaining in the comfort zone is our default. It also can get quite boring doing the very same task over and over again.
Remaining in the discomfort zone is not exactly encouraging or enjoyable either. For instance, if I was hired to shoot a cat for a Whiskas commercial, I would decline, as animal photography would be extremely unpleasant for me.
The stretch zone is where 52Frames intends to put you: just on the limitation of what you are comfortable with.
I have actually found the stretch zone to be the very best place for learning, as you have the ability to develop on the abilities you are comfy with. Ultimately, as your stretch zone becomes your convenience zone, your discomfort zone is now a stretch zone. If that was complicated, read that sentence again.
Going back to my Whiskas industrial example, I am comfortable with photographing a human who may hold the cat food. It would be a stretch to photo a human holding a cat, and eventually, it would be uneasy to shoot simply a feline.
Another example would be with learning how to utilize flash. Lots of photographers are comfortable with utilizing one light. It would be a stretch to use 2 and uncomfortable to use complex lighting with unique modifiers.
The point is: our convenience, stretch, and pain zones are various. By participating in 52Frames, you can really explore what you can and can’t do, get familiarized with the level you’re working at, and eventually, break out of your comfort zone and progress.
Final Thoughts
52Frames users have actually commented that after a year of weekly difficulties, their photography is on a different level than when they began. They have actually produced more compelling work and, perhaps more importantly, ended up seeing the world in an entirely new way.
52Frames is a neighborhood of photographers, such as you, who want to get better and assist others be better. If you are searching for a helpful and imaginative community to make your photography much better one week at a time, have a look at 52Frames.