Throughout December #TeamB61 (Hannah, Hann, Alec, Alex and Nick) took part in a daily photo challenge.
Every day they had a prompt to inspire them to pick up the camera. It was a tough challenge to take photos every single day and not everyone (spoiler: no-one!) made it to the end of the month but everyone had fun and everyone picked up their cameras far more often than usual.
“I’ve tried doing daily photo challenges before on my own, and I’ve never got as far through the month as I did this time. Having others involved in the challenge was definitely a big help for me. It would be 11pm sometimes and I’d tried and failed with several ideas but the rest of the group were pushing me on to get a photo for that day. If anyone was stuck for ideas we could turn to the group chat for inspiration. There was also that bit of competitiveness, so no-one wanted to drop out or miss a day… especially for me, up against my brother and my partner” – Hannah
Check out how we all did…
Day 1: Self Portrait
Alex: “I enjoyed getting creative with a Lens Ball and a bit of photoshop for this self-portrait.”
Day 1: Self Portrait
Day 2: From Where I Stand
Day 2: From Where I Stand
“One of the biggest challenges for me was taking the photos in portrait (we were sharing them on Instagram Stories daily so it made sense for them to fit the proportions of a phone screen). It doesn’t sound difficult but I never take portrait photos, I instinctively pick up my camera and hold it landscape. So I had to really force myself to turn it around!” – Hannah
Day 3: Candle Light
Hann: “I took lots of shots this day but I posted the first one I took – Shows you should trust your instinct!”
Day 3: Candle Light
Day 4: Baby it’s cold outside
Alec: “I love the depth of field & colours in this shot.”
Day 4: Baby it's cold outside
“With a family at home, my biggest challenge was finding the time every day after work to take photos. I wanted to take the best photos I could every day but some times I felt rushed and had to go with what I had.” – Hann
Day 5: Something Green
Hannah: “I love the unusual angle of my ‘something green’ shot – I was struggling for ideas this day, but had a brain wave on the drive home!”
Day 5: Something Green
Day 6: Starts with S
Hann: “There’s one thing I love more than a good flat lay… and that’s stationary! I’m really pleased with this photo, I gathered up all the stationary in the office which suited the colour scheme and tried a few different layouts for this shot”
Hann: Stationary. Alex: Shaving. Alec: Ski. Hannah: Sequins.
Day 6: Starts with S
“I took most my photos for the challenge with the Fuji X-A2, this was the first time I’d used the Fuji so I was getting to grips with the camera settings. As the month went on, I got used to the camera and got more creative with it” – Alex
Day 7: Foodie Friday
Alec: “A bokeh background always make a photo more festive!”
Day 7: Foodie Friday
Day 8: Decoration
Hannah: “I love the minimal colour scheme of this photo, just gold and red – It’s simple and traditional. The natural light from the window caught the decorations beautifully”
Day 8: Decoration
Day 9: Winter Wonderland
Alex: “I took this shot from the floor, looking up the Christmas tree which I think gives it a more interesting perspective”
Day 9: Winter Wonderland
“The frustrating part about a daily photo challenge when the prompts are set, is when you get one that would be so much better suited to a different day! Today was one of those – It was one of the warmest days in December… We all struggled to find a Winter Wonderland today.” –Â Hannah
Day 10 – Sweet Treats
Day 10 - Sweet Treats
Day 11: Perfect Pair
Alex: “I’ve been playing with the ‘colour pop’ feature on the Fuji a few times this month. I tried it again for this photo – It’s a cool in-camera feature to try out – and saves on the editing!”
Day 11: Perfect Pair
Day 12: Through my window
Hannah: “This photo is one of those where it was a lot more effort than it looks – I’ve always found shooting sunrises and sunsets really difficult. For this photo, I took 3 different exposures and photoshopped them together so both the sky and and houses were exposed. I love the result though – It was worth the extra effort”
Day 12: Through my window
Day 13: Childhood Christmas Memories
Alec: “The Griswolds were part of our family every Christmas as a kid, we’d watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every year without fail.”
Day 13: Childhood Christmas Memories
Day 14: Something Red
Hannah: “This day was my favourite – I took a couple of hours out of the office and went on a proper explore to get some photos. This is exactly the type of day I wanted this challenge to inspire!”
Day 14: Something Red
Day 15: Made me smile today
Alec: “This days photo featured a cameo from my girlfriend, Harrie and her elf hat – It doesn’t get more festive than that. Love the bokeh background to add to the festive feels”
Day 15: Made me smile today
Day 16: Wildcard
Alex: “This photo took the most shots to get! I had the camera set up on the floor, pointing up to the ceiling on a timer while I threw the cards up in the air – Definitely trial and error to get the cards right! It turned out to be one of my favourite photos of the month”
Day 16: Wildcard
Day 17: Homemade
Hann: “Being the only parent in the group, I thought I would utilise the one thing I had made that no one else had – my daughter!”
Day 17: Homemade
Day 18: The best part of winter…
Alec: “Photographing fire is always really cool – The colours in the flame came out really well, I love the touch of blue at the bottom of the fire, a contrast to the overall warm tones of the photo”
Day 18: The best part of winter...
Day 19: I’m dreaming of…
Hannah: “Any excuse for a mulled wine near Christmas! I knew that getting the ‘steam’ to show up well for this shot was going to be a challenge but I had a few tricks up my sleeve to fake it… It worked really well, I love how this shot came out”
Day 19: I'm dreaming of...
Day 20: Tradition
Alex: “I’m always blown away by what you can achieve with a long exposure – This church yard was pitch black, I didn’t think I was going to get anything but with a 30 second shutter there was just enough light to give the church atmosphere.”
Day 20: Tradition
Day 21: Morning
Hannah: “I love a simple coffee shot – My Instagram would be full of shots like this if I could”
Day 21: Morning
Day 22: Christmas Chaos
Day 22: Christmas Chaos
Day 23: Merry & Bright
Alex: “For today’s photo I used a technique I haven’t done before – Zoom Blur Effect – Which is when you zoom in the lens during a long exposure. I’d tried it out earlier in the month and revisited it for Merry & Bright as I thought it would look really cool with all the lights of the Christmas tree.”
Day 23: Merry & Bright
Day 24: Twas the night before
Day 24: Twas the night before
Day 25: Tis the season…
Alec: “I started and ended the challenge with a 360 shot – I love playing with the 360 camera!”
Day 25: Tis the season...
…and we all got a bit too into the Christmas spirit and didn’t take any more photos. The End.
Well done to everyone who took part!
We’ve set a new challenge for the whole of 2019 which we are starting this week – Make sure to follow us on Instagram to see our photos each week – Wish us luck!
If you want to keep up to date with life at Studio B61 follow us on Instagram. Hannah, Alec and Hannah T also have their own profile where you can see what they are working on. Follow @StudioB61_Hannah, @StudioB61_Alec & @StudioB61_Hann for update