Introducing an A to Z of Photography

The new year is often an excuse to begin a medium- or long-term project of some sort. This isn’t unique to photographers, of course, but it’s not rare to hear of a fellow photographer starting a personal photography-based project at this time of year. Common ones include:

• The 365 – take one photograph a day for the entire year (I guess this year it’d be a 366!)
• The 52 –  take one photograph a week, usually along a specific theme (e.g. 52 self portraits, 52 macro images etc.)
• 100 strangers – photograph 100 people you’ve never met before, finding out a little about them as you do so
• Photo Friday – complete the challenge announced each Friday on the photofriday.com website

I decided near the end of last year to undertake a photography project for 2012, but I wanted to do something a little different to those above. What I had in mind was something that would be a useful exercise for me as a photographer, but also a useful resource for visitors to the blog. And bearing in mind my inclination to write the occasional “educational” post on some aspect of photography on this blog, I thought it would be a good time to start a new series of blog posts for 2012. A 26-part series, in fact. Introducing An A to Z of Photography, which starts here next Monday, and will continue every other Monday up to 31st December, 2012. And yes, I know what some of you are probably thinking, which is why I need your help. Read on to find out how.

At least some of you are thinking: “But I know photography, and I know how to take photographs. That’s why I’m visit photography blogs like this in the first place. I don’t need you to teach me anything!”.  And for many of those who visit the blog that is true, and I won’t pretend to think that I know more about photography than lots of people who frequent this blog. But there are also plenty of people who stumble across this blog for one reason or another and who may have an interest in photography, but not a lot of know-how, and many many more who’ve never discovered this blog or, indeed, an interest in photography, but who own a camera.

So if you fall into the first category of ‘knowledgeable reader’, maybe you won’t learn anything new, but maybe you know some of those ‘interested novices’ or ‘undiscovered photographers’ who might learn something.  Which is a roundabout way of saying that if you want to share this series with friends, family or colleagues, well, please do!  To make it easy, you can use the following link, which will index to the entire series (including this introduction) as it grows: www.ronanpalliser.ie/blog/a2z/

So after that shameless call to action, what can you expect from the series?

First off, let me stress that it’s deliberately called An A to Z of Photography, instead of The A to Z of Photography, because I won’t claim that it’ll be the definitive A to Z of this wide ranging topic, but just one attempt to capture information about 26 different aspects of photography in one place.

I wasn’t sure if an A to Z was actually a good format in which to create what I hope will build into an introductory course to photography, but actually it is possible to cover all of the key topics, so at the end of this year I should have a fairly comprehensive series suited to even the most novice of photographer.  The challenge is that, in the meantime, I’m forced to write the series in an order that may not necessarily always be desirable.  But I think I can make it work.  And besides, isn’t it being challenging the whole point?

Well that’s part of it.  I also hope that writing the series forces me to strip my photography back to the basics, and also, of course, to go out and shoot a more varied range of images – not just portraits and weddings – with which to illustrate it. And yes, I do hope to use all of my own images for the series. Whether I succeed in that or not remains to be seen, but I’ll certainly start out with that aim.

Each installment will focus on a single topic, one that begins (with one exception) with the letters A to Z (in that order), and I expect each installment to include a number of images, plus, where required, some technical illustrations.  It will, at times, get a little technical, but that’s probably no surprise to regular readers.  My engineering background is hard to avoid. But I do believe that understanding the technical aspects of photography and of your camera is an important first step in becoming a better photographer.  And I hope to be able to provide that technical information in a reader-friendly way.

I’m also very conscious that the bank of readers I most want to appeal to with this series – those new to photography – don’t own (or maybe don’t even aspire to own) the type of photography equipment that many of the more experienced photographers who read this blog currently use.  So I’ll be doing my best to keep things accessible for all, regardless of whether you have an SLR with a series of lenses, a fairly basic point and shoot or even (where possible) just an iPhone.

I would like to cross-reference each post to every other, but as I’m writing the series over 26 fortnights, that’s not a practical aspiration until the entire series is finished. As a compromise, each post will, at the bottom, link to the index of all posts, and to each letter that’s currently online, and that index will get updated as each new post goes live.

Each post will have comments open, so I’m hoping that two things will happen – firstly that readers will use to comment area to post questions they may have, and secondly if you have a better (or different) way of explaining something, that you add a comment to contribute to the series.  And, of course, if you spot errors do let me know.

So what will the series cover?  Well, I’ve decided to keep that to myself, which means you have to wait for every other Monday to see what each new letter will bring (fun, eh?!). No prizes for guessing what A, S or I stand for, but if you can guess K, Q, X and Y I will be impressed!

I’ll also be tweeting in conjunction with the series from my @ronanpalliser account using the #photoa2z hashtag so you can follow along that way too.

The series starts next Monday, 16th January with A and continues with B through to Z every other Monday for the rest of 2012.  Spread the word.

ALL | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z