As professional photographers, we spend our days crafting images for clients. We create images we love and enjoy making, but ones that are also designed to satisfy our clients' needs and desires. It's rewarding work. But while building businesses, meeting deadlines, and delivering finished work, it's easy to lose touch with the pure creative drive that brought us to photography in the first place.

That's where personal projects come in.

From an ongoing iPhone project

Exercise for your creative eye

A personal project is photography without rules. No client. No brief. No expectations beyond your own curiosity and vision. It's a space to play with your creative ideas, experiment, explore, and even fail. It's a workout for your creative muscle. Remember, it's not about marketability. It's keeping it authentic to you.

Large Format Paper Negative Portrait Project

Why it matters

You might think, "I'm already shooting all the time. Why bother?" But here's the truth: a personal project isn't a burden—it's creative fuel.

Here's Why:

• Fosters Inspiration: Routine can dull your inspiration. Your project work can remind you why you fell in love with making images in the first place.
• Develop Your Vision: Outside the structure of client work, you start to notice recurring themes, preferences, and instincts. You start discovering (or sharpening) your unique visual voice.  
• Improves Your Skills: When you're in full control, from concept to completed image, you push your boundaries and exercise your creative muscles.
• Add Depth To Your Portfolio: Your personal work can show depth and creative courage. It often leads to unexpected opportunities and communicates your commitment as an artist.
• Builds Resilience: Having a space just for you protects your joy. We can hit a lull or a down period at some point in our careers. Personal projects can be a lifeline to pull you through.
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No time like the present

Here are some ideas to get you started. But, like the project, no rules. Follow your bliss and be authentic. The first number of images may be disappointing when starting a new project. Don't give up! Work through the creative challenge. Trust the process.

• Choose a Theme or Idea That Intrigues You: Follow your curiosity. What are your interests?
• Commit to a Timeline (Even a Loose One): Are you going to take one photo per day for a year? Once a week, Once a Month. Does the project have an end date?
• Keep It Separate: For now... Let this be sacred. No pressure to monetize or perfect. This is where you get to play. Some projects may yield images for your portfolio, while other projects may be personal and never shared.
• Share It (If You Want To): Or don't. It's entirely up to you! But if you do, you may find others resonating with your work in powerful ways.

After all that I have said above, It's essential to stress that your personal project does not have to be photographic. If your interests are in other areas like painting, watercolor, writing, etc, by all means, start with what you are most interested in.

Early in my career, I attended a workshop taught by a talented and creative West Coast photographer who taught us to "commit a creative act every day." He had us all collage in our art books, which is one of my "acts of art" I still do. I love the physicality of the medium, and I can play with ideas more freely than with photography. In exchange, this play impacts how I see and what I notice when I photograph. The projects I have pursued over the years have helped me define my vision and style for my portrait and commercial portfolios.

As professional photographers, our creativity is our currency, but it's also our lifeline. Personal projects are not indulgent. They're essential. They help us discover ourselves andour artistry and make us more valuable to our clients.

Here are a few links to PPA articles on photographers who do projects.

Sandro Miller, a Chicago-based photographer:

https://www.ppa.com/ppmag/articles/its-personal-creative-side-projects-fuel-sandro-millers-success

Michael Taylor, on his project "Roadwork"  

https://www.ppa.com/ppmag/articles/bountiful-environments