Planned or unplanned PaD?

[vetnurse]

Okay, it's been about a month of PaD for me now - I'm loving it, but .... I realized that with work and life in general I never really stopped to think about the other 11 months of PaDding still to go - I grab my camera in the morning, and if a photo opportunity comes up, I grab it.

But is that really the best way to do this? Is simply 'keeping an eye out' for a picture going to give me what I need from what this project (in my case) is really all about. I perceived PaD as a way to improve and stretch my photographic skills, but are planned shoots 'better'? Does spur of the moment photography produce more interesting and exciting images? and does a theme help to teach skills?

I personally like a wide variety of photographic styles and if you look at my galleries (taking into account the limitations of my current kit), most of my attempts are reasonably successful. I must admit I am leaning towards nature and macro work more lately.

What are your thoughts on approaches to PaD?
and what do you think works best... let me know

Cheers

http://www.pbase.com/vetnurse

[bobfloyd]

I am by no means an expert but I can tell you how I approach it and have approached it for nearly a year now.

I work from the unplanned to the planned, meaning that I use unplanned shots first when I have something I like well enough but I always a half dozen to a dozen planned shots floating around my head. That way, if I get to the end of the day and don't already have something I can use from where ever I happened to be I can set up one of my planned shots and work through getting that.

There are exceptions to this system, of course. Sometimes I will see something somewhere when I don't have my camera but on learning I will be going back to that location I will plan a shot accordingly. My photo in the Weber Grill Resturant from last week was like that.

I have not done a lot with "themed" stuff as of yet. The closest I have come to date on that is a B&W month and a vertical month. So any theme work so far has been more technical than creative. However, some of the folks here have been very successful with themes.

[gpaai]

I have completed a year and am presently working on a second after taking close to a year off in between.

I think after awhile you will find different things work at different times. There are going to be those days that you have time to experiment, while others will be shoot and post. I have even walked out my door and ended up posting the very first shot I took. Ex: http://www.pbase.com/gpaai/image/58230476

Tomorrow always brings something new.

Gary

[vetnurse]

Thanks bobfloyd and gpaai - your input is appreciated, and makes sense. At least now I have some sort of game plan.

Cheers
Ruth

[alexphotos]

I do plan my shot like when i drive to work and see a great shot i wil try to stop some other time to take it. I did my seld a list to thing to shot for my PaD, so after any day and did not find anything great to shot i will use one of the subject on my list.

It a kind of a planed PaD if i dont find anything interesting in that day.
Btw it not realy hard to sind some thing each day.

[pathfindar]

As a last resort, I alway keep a bottle of Jack Daniels Whiskey if I can't find a shot. It doesn't help me find a good shot, but it makes me not care

[vetnurse]

Thanks Alex and Pathfinder

Alex, maybe not hard for you to find something each day but some times I struggle - especially when it's cold, raining, my feet hurt, and the only thing on my mind is taking off my shoes. I'll keep trying to find the inspiration though.

Pathfinder - ROFL
I will keep that in mind (and on hand)

[donna_lear]

A theme or a planned challenge is very helpful when PaDing starts to get hard. Sometimes it seems as though you've taken every possible picture - and some of them two or three times. Alphabet challenges, colors, portraits, self portraits, playing with a new technique can make it fresh again and give you a direction to go in for the next week or so. Try looking at other people's PaD galleries and see if there's anything you'd like to try, but give it a different approach (like the many egg themed shots). Have fun with it; I'm looking forward to following your progress.

[mesullivan]

I take what I can get. Some of my shots are planned, some I stumble on, some I haven't had a good doable idea all day and suddenly the light bulb goes off. Then there are days I can't seem to get a good one. And then there are days........... Very very long day at work today and I am just letting it slide today. It'll be a pretty day tomorrow and I'll be off and I'll be out shooting.