PROJECT: It Ain’t What You Got

This project has concluded. You can see the results here.

Photography Project

Taking the best photo you can with the worst gear you’ve got.

Often when I show my photos to others I get comments like: “I could never take photos like that, I only have a crappy camera” or worse: “Wow, that camera takes great photos” – that’s one great way to insult a photographer. Taking great photos is less about the gear you use than it is about the creative input of the photographer.

For decades people have been taking spectacular photos on equipment that we would today call “crappy”. Generations of photographers first learned to shoot with simple pinhole cameras or “box brownies”.

What is the Project?

There’s an old saying: “It ain’t what you got, it’s what you do with it”. This photographic project is all about using your creativity and imagination to take fantastic photos with the simplest photographic gear you can get your hands on.

How to participate.

Put down the DSLR or 10 megapixel compact, and dig out that old disposable film camera with three shots left or your crappy 1 megapixel compact with the 8MB memory card still inside.

Then go out and find interesting, moving, exciting or beautiful subjects and shoot them. All entries must be shot during the competition period.

Be creative. Use props, coloured lights, be abstract, capture motion, take a risk with the camera – it’s a piece of crap after all. Take several shots and merge them into a larger picture. You can process the photo however you want in your preferred photo processing software. However, don’t use your other expensive camera gear to help, such as tripods or strobes. The point of the project is to demonstrate that you don’t need expensive equipment to take fantastic photos.

I will be accepting ONE and only one entry per person, so pick your best shot.

After you’ve got your photo, get it onto your computer, upload it to your blog, to your Flickr account, or wherever it is you put photos you want to share with the world. Then submit your photo to me via the entry form below. All entries are due by JANUARY 23rd (midnight AEST).

We are working to try and secure a sponsor for the project to offer a small prize, but there are no guarantees this will happen. Even if we are unable to find a sponsor for this project, I am confident that we’ll be able to find one for the next one in February. Stay tuned!

Judging.

Once the due date has passed, I’ll collate the entries and make a voting page where the photos can be seen by everyone. Readers will choose their favourite entry and place a vote for it. Voting will close on JANUARY 30th (midnight AEST) and the results will be posted to the blog the next day.

This is the first project I’ve run on the blog, so it should be very interesting to see how it all goes. I look forward to seeing your entries!

Tems of entry.

Terms: Any photo that you submit remains your sole property. I (Neil Creek) make no claims of ownership or copyright. By submitting a link to your photo, you grant me the right to include a copy of the photo, or a thumbnail of the photo in future posts on the blog (Neil Creek – Photographer) for the purposes of conducting the project, or to be used as an illustrative example in other future blog posts, or for the promotion of this project elsewhere on the blog or on other sites not controlled by me. In all cases all photos displayed for any purpose will be properly attributed and links will be provided to the creator where possible. You also agree to allow me to place advertising on pages on this blog where your photo appears for the purposes of promoting a prize sponsor, or general advertising on the site, without any compensation. By clicking submit on the form above, you aknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to these terms.