Apparently artists need to be challenged. They need muses, they need inspiration. Without pushing boundaries an artist tends to wilt and wallow, churning out much of the same, day after day, year after year until… well, they die. Scant few become very, very famous, and the rest are forgotten.
So to combat that particular murky mire of artistic dullness, to stir things up, Abi (a talented friend of mine that paints and makes pretty dresses) and Sebastian (photographer and part-time purveyor of baked goods) will be doing a grand project entitled ‘52 Weeks‘.
There are very few rules to 52 Weeks — in fact the only real rule is that we must post one photo each every week for a year. In our case it will be every Monday from August 31st 2009 until whenever 52 Mondays have passed! Is that August 30th 2010? Somewhere around there.
We have no set theme and no limits on what we can submit, as long as it’s one photo, every week, every Monday. Our photos will be placed next to each other, perhaps with a little bit about the photo or what’s going on with our lives. We’ve also never met and live on opposite sides of the country, but might plan for some kind of ‘momentous meet-up’ (or ‘hideous break-up’ as the case may be) during the project.
The photos will be posted both to Flickr and to another blog I’ve set up: 52 Weeks by Abi & Sebastian. It has its own RSS feed so you won’t see my (or her) photos pop up on this feed or this page. If you’d rather follow it on Flickr, you’re more than welcome to — it will all be cross-linked together anyway.
Expect to see some kind of introductory statements from the both of us to pop up over the weekend. Now I’m going to go and work on some cheesy picture of us both together to serve as our ‘title image’… and also have a think about what the hell I’m going to do for Monday. Stay tuned — this could either be very, very good, or diabolical. Either way, it’ll be interesting.
Sarah
Aug 28, 2009
What a cool post to pop into your blog and see!! I’m going to go look… even though it’s not Monday and there isn’t one yet…
sebastian
Aug 28, 2009
I know, I realised we probably should’ve had something up there before I posted here… but hey, nothing like drumming up a bit of EXCITEMENT, right?!
Let’s hope it’s good, eh!
Melissa
Aug 28, 2009
Ooh, how exciting! I’m always trying (and failing) to do year-long projects like this. I can’t wait!
sebastian
Aug 28, 2009
Abi is just out of another project called ’365′, where she had to take a self-portrait every day for a year… now THAT would’ve been hard.
Hopefully this will be more fun than arduous
MinD
Aug 28, 2009
Nice challenege. I’ve tried things similar to this – but about writing, not photos – in the past and always failed. I hope you find way more success in it than I have.
sebastian
Aug 28, 2009
I have a strict girl to whip me into submission. Er, submission of photos to the project that is.
I imagine some writing might get thrown in too… I can’t resist
Jaime | Fast Times
Aug 28, 2009
This sounds like it’s gonna be all kinds of interesting!
Abi
Aug 28, 2009
The Rules are.. there ARE no rules. “This could either be very, very good, or diabolical”.. I could not have put it better myself. But no, its going to be fine. Yes. Good even. Maybe.
And Can i just say I am not that strict and no whipping into submission will happen this side of week 30. Thwap.
sebastian
Aug 28, 2009
I thought you were going to say ‘Don’t talk about 52 Weeks’… but that would defeat the purpose a little…
You’re not strict per se, but you’re female… and fairly strict by definition. Matronly.
Abi
Aug 28, 2009
You need to watch it with the Matronly… i can see where this is going.
MentalSarcasm
Aug 28, 2009
52 weeks is a good start.
Next time you want to be challenged, try doing 101 in 1001:
http://www.dayzeroproject.com/
The real key is in coming up with 101 things to do XD
sebastian
Aug 28, 2009
I’ve looked at that one… and obviously, photographing the evidence could be fun… but over 3 years, I’m not sure if I want to sign up to that! I don’t know what I’ll be doing next year, let alone three years from now
floreta
Aug 29, 2009
souunds fun! i love projects like that to help keep you motivated. i have something in mind myself that i just thought up today! so its still ‘in the works’.
Jill Pilgrim
Aug 29, 2009
Very cool! That’s an awesome idea!
Hannah
Aug 29, 2009
Ooo I like the sound of that project! can’t wait to see your first one!
Andhari
Aug 30, 2009
Greaaaat idea, definitely expecting beautiful photos there
one photo a week? I’m sure you can even do more 
you got talent.
zoeo
Aug 30, 2009
my experiences with such challenges are, “difficult to terminate them”. however, i am very anxious to the photos!
sebastian
Aug 30, 2009
Only a few hours now until the first Monday photo…!
I think I have mine done. I think Abi’s out taking hers now…
I could do a lot more, Andhari, but the pressure on ’365′ (one a day) is way too high
Jossie Posie
Sep 1, 2009
I love this idea. Every time I see something like this it makes me want to carry my camera around with me. But it seems, for the time being, I have bitten off more than I can chew and left no room for photography…so I’ll have to live vicariously through you and your little photo journey.
sebastian
Sep 1, 2009
I’m a little jealous of you and your new journey too, Jossie, even if it doesn’t involve quite as much travel or exploration… but education is a noble cause too
If you can’t find time to take photos, you could at least find time to dress up and let poor photographers like me take photos…!
Jossie Posie
Sep 2, 2009
I never have a problem with posing for photos…there just isn’t anyone here to do the job.
I’m super excited about school and who knows there may be travel in the future, if all goes well I’ll be spending some time on your side of the world.