Personal Projects for Photographers: Guest post by Jonathan Thorpe

Intro by Skip Cohen

This guest post is part of an outstanding trifecta with one of my favorite new friends, Jonathan Thorpe. I realize that calling him a "friend" after just a podcast and a couple of phone calls is pushing it a little, but I've written so much about the importance of the people in your network. The best part of this industry has nothing to do with photography, but the friendships that come out of everyone's love for the craft.

You can't help but pick up on Jonathan's passion as an artist looking at the images on his site, reading his blog or just listening to him on the podcast that goes with this post. You'll also enjoy visiting the Tamron Theater and watching the behind-the-scenes video that goes along with the image below.

Most important of all, read what Jonathan wrote about personal projects. No matter what you're working on, day in day out, personal projects can help you stay focused on why you got into photography in the first place. Personal projects are a necessity to feeding your creative spirit and keeping your dream of being the best, alive and fresh!

To see more of Jonathan's work, visit his site and check out the galleries. You won't be disappointed! And, a big thanks to Tamron USA for introducing me to Jonathan and turning me into one of his groupies! This is great stuff from a talented artist!

It's very important to shoot personal work for a lot of different reasons.

• For one, it shows potential clients you have ideas of your own and can execute those. It also gives insight into your own style and way of seeing the world.

• Secondly it keeps your brain and shutter working. Its important to be pushing yourself, and developing new ideas and ways to photograph subjects.

• Lastly, personal work is the reason you’re a photographer to begin with. One of your shoots is the reason your first client hired you, so why ever give that up? Its easy to chase the money when client work starts rolling in, but never forget what got you there in the first place.

The Cupid Shot

For me, I try to especially do a personal shoot on major holidays. The “forever alone” cupid photograph was my homage to the worst holiday of all, especially if you're single….Valentines Day.   In the photo we see cupid drunk, miserable, sad and alone at a bar, whilst all the couples around him are kissing. If only he saved an arrow for himself…

This was a really funny project, as I got to get my friends involved. I put out a casting on Facebook asking any couples who wanted to be in a photo to show up to this bar I was shooting at. We shot the whole thing as a composite as couples were coming and going all day long.

It was shot with a Tamron 24-70VC2.8 lens on a canon 6D. The camera was triggered via the wifi signal it has by an iPad so i can see the framing of the shot better. I lit cupid with a few overhead lights to simulate that cold overhead lighting of a bar top, then lit the background itself with a couple strobes.

It's one of my most viewed images, and it's one that has gotten me booked numerous times, check out the Behind the Scenes video too!