A few days ago I watching one of Brooke Shaden’s promoting passion videos where she took a bunch of studio lights out into the forest for a shoot. She talked about trying out different and new things, and failing.
It made me realize that there’s no shame in failing and it’s one of the best ways you can learn. I learned that I do not like shooting without natural light (I’ve always known that natural light is my favorite, but this just solidified it). The last theme for the 52 Week Project was candle light. And I had an idea that I was SUPER excited to shoot. I was planning on setting myself on fire and all.
And I did.
But the picture didn’t turn out as good as I hoped it would. I don’t like it at all, but I’m posting it to show you guys that I failed (and I often do), and that there’s nothing wrong with that.

I have to mention that right now, I’m sitting in our backyard and writing this. The weather is just so beautiful today. It’s cloudy and windy and I’m sitting here in my huge Chicago hoodie drinking coffee and feeling so content.

So back to the picture. I was reading about candles, their meaning and symbolism and I liked the idea of it being something that wards off evil. That’s what I was planning on calling this picture, To Ward Off Evil. The girl is terrified of the evil that surrounds her, praying to be saved, when she realized that there’s no escaping evil because it’s inside her.

So why didn’t I try to shoot this again and make it work somehow? Because I’m SO stubborn and I don’t want to redo it lol and I really want to move on to a new theme. Also, I’m kinda lazy. It took an hour to set up – who would’ve thought it’s not very easy to tape candles to the wall? They kept falling!

So since I’m showing you a sucky picture, I thought I’d also show you something I actually like. I shot this in January but never got around to editing it. I’m happy with how it turned out because it’s a combination of things I like: water, clouds, wind, and lots of greys/blues. I love stormy blues.

 

This week’s theme is: muted tones.
That shouldn’t be hard..

I’ll probably be posting a few pieces that aren’t for the project some time soon. I went shooting twice yesterday because the weather was perfect all day and I had to use that to my advantage hehe.

I hope you’re all having a lovely week! ❤

2014-2017 52 Week Project Thoughts 52 week project amani alshaali black and white candles failure fine art photographer fine art photography inspiration photography photography challenge photoshop photoshop edit thoughts