Fine Art Newborn Photography | Hampshire Commercial Photography | Fareham Photography Studio

I’m firmly of the belief that it is critical for professional photographers to shoot personal photographic projects.

I’m not in anyway suggesting that they need to be charitable, life-changing, in South-America, only in Black-and-White, or using some vintage or toy camera. Just that they need to be divorced from an immediate or existing client, direct payment, and on the terms of the photographer within the reasonable constraints of the subject matter/sponsor.

Over 2012 I’m planning on shooting several personal projects, some of which will be an investment to develop skills which might turn into payable work, that I would look to prove or push some of my equipment, some of which will be good for my soul, and some are just interesting subjects I’d like to tackle over the next 12 months.

I’m not going to lay them out in detail in this post, some of them are just ideas at the moment, and there are always limited opportunities for everything. But I’m going to outline some of them them as a record of what we are planning – some/most/all of which will hopefully end up as more detail blog posts in later months once I have completed the personal project.

1. I’m looking to do some work around motorsport, not just on the trackside – I’m likely to be doing that anyway as I do every year but also behind the scenes and away from the actual race-day. I’d love to hear from anyone who owns or manages a motorsport team (I’m not necessarily looking for F1 BTW) or does their PR, club racing or the lower formulas would be great as would any of the powered water-sports – powerboats, jet skis, waterskiing, zap-cats.
2. I’m looking to shoot some work around horses. Stable owners, owner/riders, polo club, working horses are all candidates. I’m not talking about event photography here, definitely not on my agenda.
3. I’d like to take some experience I have in shooting performances and develop it, and also prove some newer equipment. Ideally a local theatre company or a national/international company performing in the Hampshire/West Sussex/Dorset counties in the first 8 months of 2012, a theatre itself would be great. Musicals, ballet, stand-up, drama, children’s theatre all considered.
4. I’d like to do something around the Olympics or Para-Olympics, it is such a massive event in 2012. Almost certainly focussed either on the athletes who live or train in the Portsmouth/Southampton area or a supplier to the Olympics from this area. Of course I’m highly unlikely to be unique in this personal photographic project…. and their will be other demands on their time.
5. I want to shoot some Hockey and some Beach Volleyball, local teams and events – both sports I have played competitively at either club or county level.
6. I’d like to do a project around fitness and well-being. It could be associated with a gym, a personal trainer, competition, manufacturer of equipment, clothing, or health products, healer, physio, or a combination of them all.

That’s a fair start. Of course those are all going to be balanced off against the portraiture and commercial work which we shoot for daily fees, and orders week in – week out.

If you have any responsibility for, or contacts in any of those organisations, and you’d be interested in some collaboration then please do get in contact or pass on my details. I’ll be reaching out to my own contacts in the new year to kick off some of these and I’ll likely add some as well as the year progresses.