The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s featured artist: Paul Elledge
iPhone Once A Day by Paul Elledge
This is a body of work that I started January 1, 2009 as a visual social media experiment on Facebook. More than ten years later the project still continues. It can now also be found on Instagram at iPhone once_a_day as well as it’s own website of the same name.
I am not a writer, thus I have chosen the camera as a tool to create a pictorial diary. In some ways, this project brings me back to when I started my love for photography. Rather than a commissioned assignment this project is personal expression. I’m making images just for me that are about how I feel as well as living in the now. This project keeps my skills sharp to the process of making images, as I am always looking, feeling and creating them. I photograph every day to capture an image that mirrors an emotion, an experience, or a feeling that illustrates my state of mind for that day. I have always believed that making images is not about where my feet are, for me it is really about where my mind and heart are.
In order to bring some visual consistency, I have set up a few rules for this project. I can only make images with the iPhone and they have to be shot vertical. The images are always black and white, and I can only alter the images within the app network on the iPhone. The final rule is that the daily post must be done as a mobile upload.
To see more of this project, click here.
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
