"Purple" by Marushka
Think back to a time when you were six years old, perhaps in the first grade. Remember when you opened a new box of crayons and had a blank white sheet of paper in front of you? The possibilities were endless; you felt as if you could draw anything. It was absolute creative freedom, unhindered by worldly concerns about skill level, practicality, or doubt. It was bliss.
If you’re a photographer, shades of that feeling come crawling back when you get a new piece of gear. When you have that inspiration, you want to bottle it up and save it for the inevitable day when your creativity gets lazy and you feel uninspired. Recently, my friend Matt Jancaitis and I both got new gear, and we talked about inspiration, which led to the creation of the Icrontic Photo-a-Day Challenge.
We created the Challenge to help keep the inspirational fire burning, and to encourage other people to pick up their cameras and start taking photos. By being given an assignment, people tend to stretch their wings a bit, and perhaps go out of their comfort zones.
By that measure, the Challenge has been a success so far. Amateur and hobbyist photographers have come out of the woodwork to participate in the daily project, using each other for inspiration and encouragement. It is not a contest to see who has the best equipment or who is the best photographer. It is simply a way to say “go out, and shoot.”
If you have a camera (even film!), I encourage you to participate. I’ll post a random selection of the previous week’s photographs just to showcase what people are doing. We’ve made new friends and had a lot of fun doing the project so far, and we’re excited to see it grow. Here is the results thread if you’d like to see more.
Some photos so far:
"King in a Castle" by Matt Jancaitis
"Trees" by CB Droege
"Computer Parts" by Regan Albus
"Water" by Raúl Muñoz
"Sister" by Jackie DiOrio
"Frozen" by Drew Beckett
"Trusty Skagen" by Rob Updegrove
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