I teach two photography classes each semester. Both have project requirements, but my class entitled Planning and Creating a Photographic Projectis more rigorous. Many of my students have never held a print of one of their photographs before, let alone created a theme-based project with ten prints and an accompanying essay.  But that is what I ask of them. And yes it’s a little scary if you haven’t ever thought of such an endeavor before. Much easier to shoot willy-nilly and upload to flickr, or just store on the laptop. So why bother? Because it matters!

I have written about goals before and I think they are incredibly important for a variety of reasons.  In this case the idea is to decide upon a specific theme, plan a strategy to produce the desired results, photograph, then actually print the best images and write something meaningful about the effort.  Now that’s novel!

All of my students at Delaware Valley’s Center for Learning in Retirement are digital shooters. They can print themselves if they own a printer, or have CVS, Costco, etc. do it for them. Perhaps just as critical is the writing. Doing this really helps to crystalize the mission and is reinforcing when completing the final edited result.

Establishing a theme and a project goal provides focus; kick starts you to get going and keeps you motivated to get to the finish line … whenever that takes place.  Of course my class is bound by the confines of the semester, but we don’t have to be. The project can take a week, a month, or years to complete.  It doesn’t really matter as long as you decide you have successfully met you goal!

After teaching this and my other course for several years now I have seen the results for my students.  Instead of a pick up hobby that’s only useful when the urge strikes, for many of them photography has become a meaningful part of their lives.