This is a shot of my old photography book, opened to a Paul Strand study. The pipe and pen are mine, both are used on occasion.

Many of my favorite photography channels and blogs have been speaking a great deal about photo assignments. The idea is to challenge oneself through limitations to a create a photograph out of a seemingly limited subject matter. The end product is not the point, it is about the challenge and how you over come this.  Ted Forbes explains it very well in this YouTube episode (HERE).  I have decided to give my own photo assignment a try. I will not follow one set of assignments, but will pick and choose based on my own desire.

In terms of my web page, I have decided to place this in the composition section of the page. This is where I take a deeper dive into composition in an attempt to better understand how to capture a scene in the best possible way.  Since this section of the website has been set aside for my learnings, it is the best place to put this.  

Because of the nature of many of these assignments, some will be digital, some film, some printed others produced in the darkroom. I hope that this assignment will teach me to view a subject from different angles, try different compositions and push myself to test the limits of my equipment and my own ability.  Lofty goals to be sure.  

I believe that this set of assignments should be rather well defined as I do not want to quit after just one, nor do I want to chase a perpetual assignment that is never done.  So lets begin with five simple assignments and see where that gets me.  Worst case will be a complete waste of time (and film) but if there is a chance to use this as tool to improve I am all over it.

Here is the assignment list, in no particular order....some of these will take time to get and others can be done rather quickly. I will not give myself a time limit but will try to get one done per week.

1. Copy a famous photograph, studying the picture, the photographer and the genre before executing it.
2. Choose one object and shoot 24 images of that object. I am allowed to move around for different compositions.
3. Shoot 12 images of an egg only changing the light.
4. Shoot a story with 4-6 images only.
5. Find a corner and stay for 30 minutes taking pictures of people as they walk by. 

Assignment 1: Copy a Famous Photograph

So this is my first update on photo assignments.  I went ahead and took a couple of images that are imitations of famous images. I say imitations because I did not worry about copying them perfectly but tried to make them similar enough to be a clear attempt at imitating a style and not some form of artistic plagiarism. 

The first image I tried is actually a photogram and not a photograph made by Mann Ray. I first saw it in a MOMA Photography book and was drawn to it immediately.  Here is the original image made by Mann Ray.

The amazing contrast of the image, the spiraling roll of film and how some of the ghosts of images can be seen. The film appears to be either a half frame or a movie film as the images seem more narrow then a normal 35mm roll.

There is a rubber band in the upper left which I liked as it gave the impression that the rubber band had been holding the roll together. 

Finally there appears to be some sort of flower laying on top of the negatives.

For my imitation I decided to keep the rubber band but remove the flower. I would use a roll of 35mm film but I wanted the images to be more readily seen. Less of a ghosting and a bit more clear at least for some of the images.

Because this is a photogram, I had to make it in the darkroom and create an actual print. The catch is that I cannot easily reproduce it as there is no really negative of the image, in fact, the print itself is the only proof that the assignment was carried out.

Here to the right is my attempt. You can see the smaller roll, a full 36 exposure roll, of images I took using an OM-2 (being tested after a repair and CLA). 

I made a few photograms of this but I liked this the best. I see enough of the images of the phone and train set to give the negatives credibility. The fact that the phone is from the 1930's and the train set is wooden gives it a sense of timelessness. 

Finally, I printed on paper from 1980's which is just yellow enough. The overall feel of the print, not well shown on the digital example at right, is one of age. 

The second image I tried to emulate was taken by Tina Modotti in 1928. I was drawn to the image because I like these old typewriters. I pulled mine out but the ribbon was out of ink. I decided to try to photo without the paper and type.

I changed the angle of the typewriter but must admit that Tina has the more powerful image.  I will need to revisit this with a film camera this time and see what I can do.  I am thinking to use my 4x5 camera to capture the detail of the image.

The angle in mine appears to be taken from the writers perspective while Tina did it as if you are looking over the writers shoulder.

The typed sheet gives you the added feeling that you have arrived at someone else's work while mine appears as if you just sat down to start working.

Tina captured a bit more of the ribbon, which was needed to show the typed sheet.  Again her image has the feeling of someone just leaving their work and you walking in. Mine looks as if a typewriter was left sitting outside and you sat down to do a bit of work.

Overall I had a blast with this assignment and I will work on it some more.  I believe that a great deal can be learned of an image by trying to recreate it.  It reminds me of a video made by Leica.  This must have been FUN to make.  See how many of the images you recognize!