What the ... ANOTHER Challenge? Day 1

Yea verily, another challenge.

A Redlands, CA artist friend of mine, Lori Sandstedt, posted to her Facebook page that she was going to participate in a 30 Day Photography Challenge she came across on Pinterest. You can read the blog progress of that challenge at www.littlebennet.com. Lori, on the other hand, three days ahead of me, is posting her daily results on Facebook.

I was looking for another something to write about, and thought this challenge seemed, well, challenging. I've never worked within a framework of a specific subject each day. It should be fun.

Here's the format I lifted from Pinterest. Sorry about the quality, or lack thereof.

Day 1 Self Portrait

I must make mention that I'll do just about anything to keep from having my photograph taken. The camera is not my friend, I am not photogenic. BUT, in the spirit of the challenge, I'll do it.

It wouldn't be a challenge if it weren't challenging, so it's fitting that I'm being pushed to photograph subjects--people-- I wouldn't otherwise be drawn to photograph.

I admire photographers who work with images of people. I own several amazing photographs of people taken by other photographers, because I love the story conveying aspect. I enjoy looking at the person or people, they're in a setting, they're doing something. But I'm daunted by the act of me photographing people. Could it be because I'm too self-conscious, concerned about their approval?

I remember once being asked as a favor to photograph a friend for an artist bio she had to put together. I drove her completely bonkers with my slow, cautious endeavor to provide her with a photo. She ended up not using it--thank goodness--because it was too real, not at all flattering. I didn't use complimentary lighting to advantage, I didn't have the right composition, wrong, wrong, wrong. It was a mess.

So, perhaps I should to take more shots of people. I'll have to give this more thought. I will say I took the above self-portrait about 20 different times with my iPhone, rejecting all but this one. I found something disturbing about all of them, but this one I can sort of live with.

That's a point I'll make, too. All of the photographs I'm using for this 30 Day Photograph Challenge will be through my phone camera.