I completed the seven day photo challenge today. The instructions were simple: post seven black & white photos of my life, over seven days. No people were to be included in the pic, and no explanation was to accompany it. Each day, someone new was challenged to play along.
The challenge was easy to do, and yet for me it was intriguing and thought provoking.
I quickly understood omitting people from the photos. We all tend to fill our pics with our family members and our friends, or capture selfies in front of iconic locations. There’s nothing wrong with doing those things. The game becomes a challenge as we seek to capture moments that represent our lives, without the people in them that can define who we are…parent, grandparent, spouse, significant other, child, friend, boss, worker. It was challenging, and liberating, to find ways to creatively express my life, without people in my photos, and without explanatory captions beneath them.
I enjoyed and appreciated rising to such a challenge!
Here are the seven photos I posted, plus a bonus pic added so I could challenge additional people. Honoring the game rules, I will not caption them or explain them.
And the bonus photo:
No explanations for my photos, however I can say that these black & white photos tell stories about my life, and where I am, currently, on my journey. This week I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of capturing moments devoid of color. The eyes are allowed to explore the photo, and interpret the story, without being distracted by colors or focusing in on the most vivid object.
I found a quote that captures this experience perfectly, although I could not find the source. It is included below, at the end of my post.
A movie brings its own spin to a story. Reading allows the imagination to create the characters and the scenes, providing room for a multitude of interpretations. There’s room in my life for books and movies, and their different ways of telling stories. And there is room in my creative life to broaden my photo taking skills. I intend to make use of more black & white photography.
