I’m a big fan of doing very small personal projects, really more along the lines of an exercise I suppose then a project. I recently started a new exercise with the hopes of using it for one of my gifts that I give out for the Holiday season to friends and family, and I feel like it would make a good Creative Mondays post. The secret here is you want to come up with a exercise that will expand the way you see, not just give you something to do. This should hopefully make sense when I give you my example.
My project was pretty simple. I wanted to make a collage of images where each image is a letter that I could use to form words a la the classic ransom note. The catch is that I couldn’t take photos of things that were inherently letters. So if I wanted a “B” I had to find an object that was in the shape of a “B” and not, say, a Starbucks sign or a graffiti tag by “Boyo”. Another restriction is that I couldn’t use manipulation tricks on the image in post-production to make the letter. I could only use cropping tricks to create the letters. Dodge and burning or cloning out pieces of a brick wall to enhance or obscure the image to create the letter was a no-go. Also, the subjects all had to be “found items”. I had to use what was around me and not manipulate my surroundings to create the letter. For instance, I couldn’t find two soda cans and a 2×4 and line them up to form a “B” shape and shoot that… unless I chanced along and found those items in that configuration. And I gave myself a further restriction. For each gift I could not use the same image twice. So for instance, if my image was the word “messy” I had to have two separate images for “s”.
So what could I do? I can rotate, flip, or mirror an image. I could sweep away dust or dirt that was obscuring the subject, or rotate it to create a more pleasing light or angle (but not in order to create the letter). I can re-use images for letters that mirror or crop. For instance flip and “M” upside down and you get a “W”. Cut a “W” in half and you have a “U” or a “V”. You can even flip a “V” upside down and use it as an “A”. I just can’t use the same subject in a finished piece twice. So if I were making the word “AV Club” I’d have to use two separate images for “A” and “V”. I also was not restricted to capital letters. So if I could find an “r” but not an “R” that was okay.
This was a really fun challenge. It really forced me to look at objects in a new way. It also forced me to think about typography and letter design. It helps that I’m a designer who works with a myriad of fonts all day long, so I’m used to seeing different letter shapes, but anyone can do it. It forced me to look for patterns and shapes and to really plan ahead and to find a location which would afford me a wealth of different textures and shapes.
Oh, and a tip? Brickwork is your friend! I can use photo above for 10 different letters. Had I shot it a little wider I could add 3 more to that. Just that little meta-exercise is a great tool in itself to training your eyes to see differently!
