week 55 - finding my way

Well, that were some interesting 55 weeks.

It definitely was the best thing I could have done to improve my photography. If you think about starting a 52 weeks or 365 days project, do it.
You learn so much, you get to know your camera, you get to know places, people, seasons and also yourself.

There was never a time where I wanted to give up the project entirely, but there were days when I didn’t dare touch my camera because I was thinking I wouldn't get the picture I wanted anyway, so why try? But I tried and often I got SO frustrated and depressed because the photos just didn't turn out the way I wanted them to at all. And this made me even more disappointed and unmotivated. It's so hard to break this vicious circle.

If this had been a 365 project I wouldn't have made it till the end. I think if I had to take a picture everyday it would make me even more frustrated. I just can't work under pressure very well and I might have lost interest in taking photos because I can't take a picture I like every single day. I don't know if that makes sense.

My style of photography has changed quite a bit. I started getting into conceptional photography after seeing the work from other artists like Joel Robison or Julie de Waroquier or other people from the inspirational list on the right side of this page. I started taking pictures of other peoples pets and of other people and it made me realize that it would be amazing to have a job like this in the future, and to work together with people who appreciate what I do.

I still don't have a certain style. I'm not specialized on landscapes or pets or fashion photography, but I figured out want I want to show with my photographs. I want them to make other people think. And obviously they should tell a story. I wanna create photos that provoke emotions in the viewer. I wanna make daily things look pretty and touch you, I wanna create memories (I love being able to look back at the photos from each week and remember exactly what happened on those days.)

This project has helped me not only improve in photography, but in many other aspects of my life as well. Expressing my feelings in photographs helped me so much, I started feeling better and I learned about self-discovery and dreams and I'm not so afraid anymore of what the future will bring. I just hope everything is gonna turn out alright.

I got better in accepting myself. Taking self portraits definitely helps you. You just have to accept you the way you are. I realized that it's okay to do things differently from how other people do them. And it's a good thing to do the things that make you happy even if other people are skeptical and might not understand it.

It's still hard for me to not compare myself with other people but I'll get there.
I'm not where I want to be but that's okay and I'll just take my time.

I will not quit photography. I take it much more seriously than I did before this project and I'll start a new photography blog soon, and post the link here.
Thanks to all the people for pushing me, motivating me and making me feel better. Thank you so much. Especially to Kathrin and Andy, Peter, Cali and MC, and all the people that made me keep going and smile with their kind words.
"Franzi, you are seriously gifted at evoking truer representations of real life and the inner spiritual world than... well, I don't know anyone personally who can do what you do at all. Please keep going! :)" (Morgan Broquard)
Or my Digital Media teacher told me I had "innate taste (you are discovering it slowly)". I was so so happy to read this and it means so much for me to hear that I'm improving and that people do like my work and try to understand it.



About these photos. I'm actually quite happy with the result. I know they are dark and noisy but I decided not to care too much about image quality anymore(besides that, I think it fits in this case?). Anyway, the story should make the picture, not the image quality.