project33 [#1]

As an amateur with no particular niche and not much time I struggle to keep a “raison d’être” for my photography.

I tried to set myself a series of challenges last year which ultimately failed due to a combination of too many rules and too much self-pressure to make each image better than the last. But I still feel I need a challenge to work towards and give me a sense of direction.

Welcome to #project33. Essentially it’s a 365 challenge to document a year in my life and to get me thinking about photography in different ways, but most importantly without the pressure of having to take a photo each and every day.

The aim is to create 365 images over the next year.  Each day an image will be posted to Instagram (follow @stuart.sowerby), and each month I’ll put a selection of my favourites here.  I’ll also periodically update the master album with higher quality versions.

Real Life and motivation allowing, the image will be taken each day.  In reality there will be a mix of daily captures and others taken recently, either with the challenge in mind or as part of another series.

As with any challenge like this, expect the quality to vary; although I always try my best to create a compelling shot this won’t always happen, but I hope over the year to see a refinement in my composition, find interest in the seemingly uninteresting, and maybe even see my own style finally emerge.

Here’s a few from my first month, all images taken with the Fujifilm X100F and, with the exception of the Milky Way, all processed using the in-camera converter and Snapseed:

3. A Light Path
5. Brown and Grey
10. A normal British summer
12. Sideways Spinnaker
13. Gunwharf
14. Arachnid Dreams
25. Play Frame
28. Milkyway over Emsworth

Kingley Vale

Kingley Vale has been on our list of places to visit for years, but despite it being less than 20 minutes away we only got around to going recently.

It’s an ancient forest and hill that provides some great views of the surrounding area, and is a great day out with the kids if they’re good walkers; the woods start about a mile from the car park and the trail to the hill can be narrow and winding.  Once you get through it though there are some lovely spots for picnicking and otherwise enjoying the setting. We’ll be planning a return trip in the autumn to see what colours it brings.

Emsworth: Along The Shore

I took advantage of the good weather a few weeks ago and went for a walk along the Emsworth shoreline to test out my new Fujifilm X100F.  The light was excellent and the camera a joy to use.  I shot in Provia and most of these are OOC (out of camera) with just a few small tweaks.  I wasn’t a fan of Provia on my X-E2 but either my tastes have changed or Fujifilm have tweaked their film simulations and so far it’s proving to be very pleasing for a lot of uses.

In other news I’m setting up a new self-hosted gallery for all my images. You can find all the images for this post and a few more here!