UPDATE – I have posted a second project here.

The #hometime project began somewhat by accident. Last spring, I was becoming frustrated with what I thought was a lack of subject matter. Seeing the amazing work of other photographers in exotic locations, I felt like my photos couldn’t stand up. After not shooting for a while, I decided that I was going to force myself to be creative on some level.

At the time I was working at an office located in London Ontario, near Centennial Hall. After work every day, I would walk from my office to meet my partner, who works on the other side of Victoria Park, before we headed home. This seemed like a good time to try and see what I could do. I was going to make myself find one thing everyday worth taking a picture of during my walk. I didn’t have much in the way of expectations, so rather then taking out my DSLR, which was always with me, I just used my IPhone. Mostly because it was faster to get out, and drew less attention.

I took the first picture in the series on May 16, and it didn’t take long before I was finding multiple things to photograph. Within the first week, I came up with the idea to make a project out of it, and started to formulate some rough ground rules.

  1. Boundaries – Since the idea was to limit myself to my daily walk, I decided that all the pictures had to be taken within that boundary. From my office on Waterloo to the East, Dufferin Avenue on the South, Central Avenue to the North, and slightly past Richmond Street to the West.
  2. Gear – Just the Iphone. Though I use them now,  I didn’t use any additional lenses with the phone.
  3. Applications – The only app I used for this project was Instagram. Not out of any particular loyalty to it, but by the time I realized I was working on a project, I thought it would be good to keep things consistent. Plus it was quick and simple.
  4. Processing & Sharing – All image Processing was done as I walked, and the photos were posted online before I arrived at my destination.
  5. Timeline – My office was planning on moving to Richmond and Dufferin on November 1st, so that felt like a natural time to cut off the project.

 

I started to find myself paying attention to my surroundings a lot more. The park, which I had previously seen as a boring subject, became almost a living thing. Even though very few of the images contain people, I found myself noticing the effects of people. Picnic tables moved daily, the various events brought in new elements that didn’t belong, people left pants laying around.

One of the benefits of using the IPhone was its limitations. Its fixed focal length forced me to move for the shot. Its lack of precise exposure controls made me think about a shot and if I should wait for better lighting.

Overall, I found this project to be a great creative exercise. It improved my compositional skill, and I learned a great deal about how to see my surroundings. I’m still shooting every day, lately concentrating on the morning walk down Richmond St. You can see that stuff on my Twitter, or on Instagram.

 

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©2014 Mike Bourgeault