One of my favorite parts of my 20 on Tuesday interviews is when I learn about what other photographers are doing as personal projects.  I believe a key to longevity in this business is continuing to enjoy the art of photographing.  Not only photographing for other people, but photographing for yourself.  Personal projects are a wonderful way of stepping outside the realm of client photography and allowing yourself to be creative, with no rules or limits, without the pressure of pleasing anyone but yourself.

Recently many of my fellow photog friends have been talking and brainstorming ideas for personal projects.  If you’ve been following my blog since January 2010, you’ll know that I took on the challenge to do a 365 project last year.  I LOVED every second of the roughly 200 days that it lasted.  But between summer trips, client sessions, and moving to a new state, my 365 came to an unfortunate end mid spring.  I’ve decided not to tackle such a big project this year but instead have been inspired to do something equally as fulfilling (I hope), much less time consuming, but a little less comfortable for me.

Last year both Tara Whitney and my friend Shannon took the challenge of photographing their families (including themselves) once a month for an entire year.  They weren’t striving for the perfect portrait.  They weren’t worried about clothing coordination or concisely coiffed hair or the ideal location.  They were striving to capture a glimpse of their family in the real, in the raw, in the moment. This is where my comfort level faces its challenge.  I’ve been holding on to my last 15 pounds of baby weight now for almost 7 years.  I’m a fanatic about what pictures of me I release to the blog world.  The liquify tool and are TIGHT.  It takes most of the day for me to take, edit, and approve of a self portrait.  I’m my own nightmare client.

This challenge will require me to let that all go. (Although I can’t guarantee a clean split from the liquify tool) It will require me to relax in the moment and strive to capture our family in the reality that is us.  It will require me to complete  a goal of twelve family portraits in twelve months with no excuses.  It will require me to blog pictures from “The Cave”.

And you know what? I’m up for the challenge.  Because these are the moments I want to remember.  The real moments are what I want to look back on, to reminisce about when all of my kids are grown and gone.  These are the moments that count.

I encourage you to take the challenge of capturing more real moments with your own family this year.  You will not regret it.

HAPPY 2011