Exploring the Colour Blue Through a Mini Photography Project

I have often mentioned the value of always having a photography project on the go. It helps keep your photography motivated, it stimulates creativity, it improves your skills and it provides you with new and interesting subjects.

I have a few projects that I return to constantly. One is the Small Towns project, which encourages me to stop in small towns and photograph the unique features of the town. This project is ongoing and as such provides ongoing motivation.

Another project is where I visit a historical site and photograph it at different times, in various weather conditions and in different seasons throughout the year. I use a range of perspectives and compositions and enjoy returning to the site often in an attempt to create a few pleasing images.

As well as the more long-running projects, I also like to do an occasional short-term or mini project. This might extend through one or two photography sessions but is always of short duration. A topic such a a specific colour works well for this type of project.

Why do a mini project?

There are a few reasons why mini projects are a good idea.

• They encourage us to pay attention to what is around us.

• They provide opportunities to develop our creativity.

• They sharpen our observational skills.

• They increase our range of subjects to photograph.

Mini projects can remain self contained or they may serve as jumping off points for more detailed projects.

Exploring the colour blue through a mini project.

In this project I decided to confine myself to just two photography sessions, and to use two different locations; a coastal town and an urban setting.

The only rules I set for myself were that each image should primarily highlight the colour blue and that I should try to get a variety of subjects or a variety of compositions for similar subjects.

Here are some results:

Why not try a mini photography project for yourself? It works with almost any topic, it's quick and easy to do, it provides you with lots of potential subjects and it's a fun activity with your camera.