Sometime over the weekend you will see the ‘introductory’ statements of both Abi and I. And then on Monday you will see our first photos from our year-long project: 52 Weeks.

Excited? We are. And a little nervous.

For more info on Abi, to tide you over until she introduces herself, check see her Flickr profile or her Etsy shop.

For more info on Sebastian, until he too writes something, there’s an ‘about’ page on his blog!

Cheesy ‘project logo’ to follow tomorrow!

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.

I know it looks like we’re related, but we’re not, honest. We’ve never even met — that’s how good my Photoshop skills are. We’ve now ‘come out’ on Flickr and so far it’s received a good response…!

And now a little introduction from both of us:

Abi

Having recently completed an erratic and rather stressful 365 self portrait challenge, my initial feeling was that I did not want to pick up my camera again for a very long time. It is very easy to let days and months pass by, only recording the really significant occasions, but a daily project can take this to the other extreme. It becomes a chore to present yourself every day, being both photographer and subject is as limiting as it is liberating.

One thing I really found valuable however, was having to think creatively on a regular basis. It was this, combined with the urge to be behind the camera a little more, that inspired me to begin a 52 weeks project.

I will not be embarking on this one alone!. I will be collaborating with my friend and sounding board Sebastian (go say Hi on Flickr). Each week we will pair our images here on the blog which will document our year. I should also probably mention that we live almost 200 miles apart and have never met. We hope the emphasis this year will be on quality, rather than quantity and are just as interested as you to see which direction this takes us. We plan to upload to our respective Flickr streams and the blog every Monday!

As Seb said himself: “This could either be very, very good, or diabolical”. I couldn’t agree more.

Seb

And so here I find myself starting a year-long project. Similar to the infamous 365 project but with more variety, less narcissism and, if we do it right, the potential to a really wild ride.

I’m Sebastian, I’m 25, I’m a photographer. I’m the one on the left of the photo. When I’m not taking photos I’m usually writing stories or playing video games.

She’s Abi, she’s older than me (it’s OK if I don’t give a lady’s age, right?), and she’s an artist. A fantastic artist that paints and makes dresses and other pretty things. In the photo above, she’s the one on the right.

And together… this will be 52 Weeks of Abi & Sebastian!

Every Monday, from August 31st 2009 through until August 2010, Abi and I will upload a photo. It might be a landscape or a portrait, or even some kind of dubious ‘interpretive modern art’ — we don’t know yet. That’s part of the fun! We may grow to like each other, or hate each other. Themes in our photos may appear and disappear. We’re both creative artists so if all else fails it should at least be interesting.

You can follow us on Flickr or here on the blog!

Useful Links

Abi’s Flickr and Abi’s Etsy shop

Seb’s Flickr and Seb’s Etsy gallery

Sticky Fingers & Taurus

Abi: I went out to try to find something local and interesting as the basis for my first image in this project and came up with nothing. Beautiful as the Devon countryside is, it is hard to be inspired when it is dark and drizzling. Looking up at the gathering clouds, I decided to go home and give it up as a bad job. I was climbing over a gate when I spotted, just above my head an amazing, untouched crop of Blackberries. I must walk this lane 3-4 times a week and its amazing how we can look but stop seeing. Proof indeed that you can find good things in the most unexpected of places. Sort of sums up this project really so I guess its apt for my starting image.

Note to self: look up more. Tall people like Seb must see so much more.

Seb: The original plan was to ‘welcome’ you to my little corner of the world in Sussex, with the tried-and-trusted ‘Welcome to…’ village sign, with the beanie baby casually hanging from it.

But it looked a bit shit. So I went sunset chasing instead! And found a lovely view over a gate and across a farm. Unfortunately it’s not a cow farm; that would’ve been neat! We do get all our eggs from them though!

Why the beanie baby? Well… I have a few stuffed toys! Not many people know about them. Only the few people that I let into my bedroom — and those friends and lovers are few and far between. And I guess you too now!

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Click the images to visit our Flickr streams. You can comment either here or there!

They’ll name a city after us & Easier than it looks

Abi: One thing that irks me about humans, is that some of us tend to think of things in terms of limitation as opposed to possibility. We think of millions of reasons why we can’t, shouldn’t or wouldn’t. We devote so much time to this reasoning that we fall into a pattern and begin to apply this way of thinking to almost every element of our lives.

We limit and restrict ourselves to such a point that we forget to see, we forget how to feel and we no longer entertain the idea of letting go. We miss opportunities and let things slip through our fingers.

The second image in my 52 weeks collaboration with my dear Sebastian.

Partly inspired by his love of all things sky “They can make or break a landscape, Abi” (something I have not attempted to photograph before). And parly musing on the topic of greatness and potential.

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Seb: Obviously influenced by Abi’s 1 of  52, I’m being rather experimental here. I’m not a self-portrait master by any means — I don’t even have a remote for my camera!

So this is a 10-second dash and the hardest I’ve ever had to do. It’s REALLY hard to balance a blackberry on your nose when your camera is ticking down… Needless to say, getting the blackberry into the 1-centimetre plane of focus was also fairly difficult…

Why black and white? The colour version is actually quite nice but B/W made the blackberry pop right out. The incredibly-narrow depth of field is also a little distracting in the colour version. Incidentally, the larger version is well worth seeing, for the detail of my beard and the blackberry if nothing else!

(As a blog-only treat, here’s an outtake of the blackberry rolling off my face… I believe my mouth is starting to form the words ‘Oh shit’…)

Anyway, it’s now blustery and chilly here in the UK and I think the next few weeks will take a look at the beginnings of AUTUMN! (Fall, for you Americans.)

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Click the images to visit our Flickr streams. You can comment either here or there!

The Leaf Ninja & ‘Yes, they’re real’

Seb: Oh, look, it’s a… a… er… SOMETHING! Hiding in the trees!

The original concept for this photo was to have me laying on the ground, my face covered in leaves, with just my eyes visible.

Turns out the big-leaf trees aren’t shedding yet. And covering a head the size of mine in beech leaves is pretty hard…

So I did the only thing a man can do in such a situation. I rubbed leaves into my hair and torso until I looked like a tree! I’m topless, but sadly you can’t see — you’ll have to trust me that I looked very ‘Tarzan’.

And ta’da… stealthy, leaf ninja!

The ‘look’ is meant to be kind of ‘I could kill you with just my thumbs.’

But Abi thinks it looks more ‘creepy stalker in the garden’. Hmpf.

If you’re bored with the tree theme: I have a feeling that next week will be wildly different.

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Abi: I remember seeing makeup similar to this on a fashion shoot a while ago and always think about it. This is a play on nature versus natural beauty and how we try to emulate what is natural, often by the most false and synthetic means.

Incidentally, my eyelashes are really quite freakishly long. They are the first thing people comment on when they meet me and probably the most commented upon aspect on all my flickr photos.

In the words of Sir Walter Scott: “What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.”

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Click the images to visit our Flickr streams. Feel free to comment here or there!

Untitled

Caption contest!

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You can visit either Abi’s or Seb’s Flickr stream to see what other captions people have come up with!

Newton’s Apple & Shoe Porn

Seb: I’m in two minds about whether I’m going to make this something deep and meaningful, or if I’ll just let it stand for what it is.

This apple is the fruit of a direct descendent of Newton’s apple tree.

Someone obviously scrumped an apple from his garden and planted another tree at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. I then scrumped this apple and brought it back home to photograph. The actual tree from which Newton’s apple fell from died, so these stolen progeny are all that remain!

I didn’t want to do ‘yet another macro’ of the apple, so you get an experiment in ‘landscape still-life’. It works! (Though it’s a shame the tree is not alone in a field, eh? But I love the colours on the trees behind!)

As for the deep and meaningful bit, you’ll have to check my blog. It’s about Newtonian physics and racism — not for the faint of heart.

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Abi: I find myself in London this week sans chocolate sauce, so very little thought went into this shot. I visited the V&A museum and saw these shoes as part of the History of Fashion exhibition. Although I am not really a “shoe girl” I think we can all appreciate this sexy pink and gold encrusted pair…

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Click either photo to visit our Flickr streams.

Balloon comedian & It’s all about the cake, or how Sebastian found Abi

Seb: I should probably preface this by saying he is a member of my family. I don’t actually go around taking photos of little boys, asking them to tie balloons to their ears — that was all his idea. I just pointed the camera in the right direction (which just so happens to be the most important thing with photography, by the way).

I got a new lens this week — a Sigma 50mm — so expect to see a lot more photos like this. I’m building up to doing some journalistic work/people photography. The idea is to hit up somewhere like India or South Africa and head to the slums or the wild undergrowth. I’ll also be doing some portraiture and live music work.

I’ve always been good at catching just the right moment, but the key to photography (other than pointing in the right direction!) is understanding your tools. The only way to do that is to take lots of photos!

If you like this kid, I have a few more photos of him to share…

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Abi: Ah Cake!. It can unite or divide nations, it can be used to celebrate or commiserate and it is power is not to be underestimated. Make no mistake, cake is VERY important to some people. Who knew that somewhere, deep in the bowels of some forum, there are a whole bunch of self employed artists who, quite simply love cake. And this photo is partly dedicated to them.

I won’t go into the details of who did (or didn’t) speak first. I won’t elaborate on the fact that when Seb did eventually address me, it was to tell me off about something. I think you will agree that it was not the best start. I would even go so far as to say it is a wonder we are friends at all.

So this week’s image is a comment on the bonding powers of cake and one persistent, hairy photographer. Enjoy.

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To visit either Flickr stream, click a photo!

Medieval Portal & Humbug Head
(Click for larger)

Seb: Ightham Mote, a house in Kent, England, dates back to the 1300s. It’s been levelled a few times, cut up and resculpted and had its innards gutted and sold off numerous times — but there has been SOMETHING here since the 1300s.

About 20 years ago the National Trust bought it and have been managing it since — and it’s lovely!

The blue windows were a bit of luck — it had been raining all day, but when we finally got there the skies opened up and… BLAM! Blue skies, reflected in the windows.

If you squint closely (or view it larger) you can see someone waiting at the end of the tunnel.

Ah! And the derivation of Mote — it’s NOT a typo. It has nothing to do with the moat that runs around the house. Mote is old-English apparently, for ‘meet’ — and druids and the like would meet at Ightham Mote, back in the medieval days. So there you go.

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Abi: Regular visitors to my Flickr stream will know all about my cat Sixx. I have to confess, I never really thought of myself as a cat person, until I got her (I have always wanted a dog). I don’t think Sixx is actually like any other cat I have ever met.

This shot was originally going to be a photo of some cozy blankets and a hot water bottle, as a nod towards the darker evening and colder weather. Obviously Sixx thought she could improve upon it in some way, by sticking her small, soft head into shot at the last moment, what a rebel. I can’t really argue with that…

One of my favourite things about her is the top of her head. I love these markings, almost like a humbug. Many of you won’t know why she is called Sixx but I named her after Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue. Yes, she is that cool.