5 Steps to Achieving a Successful Photography Project

Why is a photography project beneficial?

Many photographers, both professional and amateur, regularly have an ongoing photography project. Their reasons for doing a project will vary, according to their needs and requirements.

In my last post I outlined some of the benefits I have gained from doing a photography project. To recap, doing a project has given direction and purpose to my photography, helped me stay motivated when inspiration waned, and encouraged me to review and present my work. A project provides interest and variation and gives an opportunity to encapsulate all the aspects of photography that interest us as photographers.

Doing a project doesn’t have to be difficult, nor does it need to take a lot of  time. It can be a short, snappy project lasting a week or two or it can be an ongoing project of many months’ duration. The choice is yours and both options are worth trying.

The five steps outlined below will help you get started on a photography project and hopefully provide you with a simple path to achieving a successful outcome.

5 STEPS TO ACHIEVING A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

STEP 1

Decide on your topic/idea

A quick search online will provide plenty of ideas for photography project topics, but if you want to have something more personal to yourself it’s a good idea to look at your recent photography to see what type of subjects you are being drawn to. If any of these have potential to become a project you will have the advantage of starting off with something of personal interest. However, if your own work doesn't reveal any possibilities there is a vast collection of project titles to choose from and it will usually be possible to find something to suit you. This route has its advantages also, as the project you’ll be working on will be new and fresh and offer interesting, untapped photographic opportunities.

My current project arose from a personal interest in photographing old and decaying subjects. I was continuously being drawn to photographing derelict buildings, decaying objects or items that portrayed a sense of ‘past their best’ but which still had a lot of character and texture.  They give me a sense of nostalgia and I have discovered that there is great potential to expand what I photograph while staying within the parameters of the project title.

A recent trend in my photography is to photograph everyday places and to try to show beauty in the mundane. It offers the potential to become a major project so I am keeping this in mind. I am currently mulling over some potential titles.

This brings me to the second point in this step and that is to give your project at least a working title. Naming your project helps you to focus on the direction you want to take and to maintain ongoing focus.

STEP 2

Ask yourself, is it achievable?

This is an important step as it will largely determine the success of the project.

You should ask yourself questions such as:

Is it practical?

Is it actionable?

For example, a topic that involves a lot of travel may not be possible for some people therefore it will not be either practical nor actionable. On the other hand, if you choose a topic that offers potential in any location, you raise the chances of achieving success.

Obviously, the question of whether a topic is practical and actionable will vary according to individual circumstances, but it is something worth considering before embarking on a project.

In my own case, I am basing my project on locations close to me, locations that I visit regularly and also on finding subjects when I travel to less frequently visited locations. My subjects will manifest themselves in all locations so I believe that my topic is a practical one and also that it is actionable wherever I am.

STEP 3

Set limitations

Setting limitations on your project is important as it gives you parameters within which to work and helps you to maintain a strict focus. This can avoid getting lost in an unwieldy project and losing interest.

Limitations can be set in relation to location, subject and time initially, although you may want to set other limitations also.

Location

Proximity to where you live will be a consideration if you are not in a position to travel, but you might also choose, for the purpose of your project, to limit yourself to your immediate vicinity. Alternatively, your project might be more wide-ranging and easy to incorporate into any location, therefore location might not be a limiting factor for you.

Subject

Again, there are different approaches to subject in a project. For some photographers, location is limited to certain areas but the subject can be fluid, whereas for others, the project centres on variations of one subject, for example a project photographing castles.

Time

A photographer might limit themselves regarding time of day or season. Blue hour photography is a common topic for projects.

An additional limitation that you might consider is setting a specific timeframe in which to complete your project. As I mentioned earlier, it is easy to get lost in a project that seems never ending. It begins to lose momentum and you can quickly lose interest.

I think it’s important to set an initial timeframe. This can be changed as the project develops but it gives you some parameters within which to work and sets up an expectation of completion, which helps keep you motivated.

I also believe that projects should be ‘rounded off’ in some way, but I’ll discuss that later.

Below are a few examples to illustrate what I mean:

In the photography book, This Pleasant Land, photographer Ian Sargeant set himself a project of taking a photo every day in the Scottish Highlands, the area in which he lives.

In his project entitled ‘Close to Home’ we can see that the subject varied but Sargeant limited himself in relation to location.

Nicholas J.R. Whit took a different approach. His project ‘Black Dot’ was to photograph bothies throughout the UK. In this project Whit limited himself regarding the subject but not the location.

UK based photographer and YouTuber, Mike Chudley, has described a recent ongoing project in which he photographs the English coastline, where he lives, each morning at sunset. He is flexible regarding his subject matter, loosely limited in relation to location - he will concentrate on coastal areas within reasonable driving distance of his home - but he has set a limitation with regard to timing in that he intends to complete the project during the summer and early autumn while the mornings are bright.

Another UK photographer, Craig Roberts, has an ongoing project which he calls Seats. The subject is limited but the location is flexible.

Anthony Epes, a photographer from California now living in Spain, had an ongoing project, which he presented in book form, entitled Cities at Dawn. He used different city locations but restricted himself to time of day - all of the photographs were taken in pre-dawn and early morning hours.

UK photographer Simon Roberts took an approach during the pandemic lockdown in which all of these limitations were in place. He walked the short distance from his home to the coast every morning for a month and each morning he took a photograph of the sea. He then presented his finished project.

*

Last year I produced a book project based on images from my local woodland demesne. Only the location was constant, subject varied throughout the project and I worked within a vague timeframe. I see further potential projects in this location by limiting myself to one subject type, e.g. flowers or trees, or confining myself to one season, e.g. shooting only in autumn.

Another small project I did was called Cats in the City. I was spending 10 days in a city in Portugal, where there are lots of cats. My project was limited to this one location, concentrated on a single subject and was to be completed within the 10 day timeframe.

There was a real sense of completion at the end.

Even if you don’t want to put strict limitations on your project, and want to keep it open-ended and flexible in terms of subject and location, it is worth considering placing some time limitation on your project, even if only as a guideline for yourself and an incentive to completion.

My current project, ‘Old and Decaying’ was started in November last year. I intend to keep it ongoing until the end of the summer, adding to it as I visit different locations and see potential subjects.

The timeframe is flexible but I do have an end date in mind.

This is an image I was drawn to that could be used in my 'Old and Decaying' project.

STEP 4

Review and Curate

Reviewing your images regularly helps with your final selection for presentation. I tend to save my images by month/year then transfer those with potential to a dedicated project folder. It means that I have easy access to these particular images when I refer to them on a blog post, and they are also readily available when it comes to the final step of presenting my completed project.

The curation process of selecting and organising images is not something I enjoy doing but I have come to realise it’s importance to the overall success of a project, and by going through the process I will know my images, know what I like and why, and have my best final selection to choose from.

STEP 5

Presentation

For many of us, our project may just be a private endeavour, something different that we enjoy doing, something that helps us stay motivated and interested in our photography. And there’s nothing wrong with that. However, I believe that we should also present our project to others, at least occasionally. There are a few reasons for this.

Number one is that it gives an added layer of interest if we know that someone else may view our work. Number two is that it encourages us to reach the best standard that we can reach, and reason number three is that if we commit to ourselves that we will present our project then we are more likely to go through the steps outlined above and see it through to completion. Presentation rounds off the project, rather than leaving an unfinished project sitting somewhere on our hard drive, and brings a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

How and where will you present your project?

The first thing to think about in relation to presentation is how do we want our project to be viewed. Will it be viewed online or in print form? Will it be presented in colour, monochrome, or a combination of both? Will you use a uniform style or allow each subject to be the deciding factor in how it is  presented?

Next there is the question of where to present your project. It could be presented on social media, on a website, in book form, as a calendar or as a series of prints for your wall. The intended audience may just be family and friends or it may be a wider audience of viewers. You might even be lucky enough to have your photos exhibited in a local gallery. Many photographers in small communities start off by having their work displayed in their local coffee shop or community centre or library. This helps get their name known locally, as was the case for my friend whose work was chosen for inclusion in a local library exhibition and who now sells prints and postcards of her unique photography subjects in several outlets.

There are many options for presentation and if you want to go down that route you will find the one that is right for your project.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I mentioned earlier, I often find that ideas for new projects reveal themselves naturally as a result of the images I am taking. I am currently putting together a set of images for a new project based on ordinary subjects in ordinary locations and attempting to reveal the beauty therein. I believe this will be a more substantial project. I already have the idea and working title as well as a collection of images. I intend to present this collection in book form as it is a very satisfying feeling to see my completed project in print.

Embarking on a photography project has many advantages. It is a great way to stay motivated and interested, it gives you an incentive to get out with your camera often to see what images you can find to add to your project and it helps to keep you enjoying your photography journey in a very tangible way.

Why not try a photography project for yourself?