Throughout December Hannah took part in a daily photo challenge. At the start of the month we wrote a list of prompts, most of them were festive inspired but some of them were techniques to practise or themes from last years challenge to give another go. Each day’s prompt was meant to inspire her to pick up a camera. It was a tough challenge to take photos every single day and *spoiler alert* Hannah didn’t make it to the end of the month.
“I like doing a photo challenge during December because my favourite part of Christmas is all the decorations and the frosty mornings are great for photography. Last year the whole team took part in the challenge which really helped with motivation, so I knew this year would be tougher. I was doing really well throughout the first week and I was excited to challenge myself but as work got busier on the build up to Christmas (or in our case, the office being closed for 2 weeks) it got much harder to find the time and have the creative energy to focus on the photo challenge at the end of a long day.” – Hannah
Day 1: Self-Portrait
“I found self-portrait difficult this year as I felt like I had a really good concept last year and I couldn’t think of anything new. As a designer it’s often more about the concept so I struggled not having a starting point. Instead I went simple, no concept exactly, but it has actually ended up my favourite photo from this years challenge. Execution over concept on this one” – Hannah
Day 2: Something Green
“I’m so glad I got a frosty shot in – I love the texture of this photo and how the frost has even made nettles look beautiful.” – Hannah
Day 3: Light Trails
“I challenged myself with the light trails prompt – I didn’t want to do traffic light trials which is very common. I’ve never photographed anything like this before and I really enjoyed experimenting.” – Hannah
Day 4: Rustic
“Whilst exploring, looking for something ‘rustic’ and natural, my eye was instantly caught by this feather and it turned out to be a beautifully simplistic image. I’ve had this printed for the studio.” – Hannah
Day 5: A Taste of Christmas
“I definitely should have taken this photo in the studio with professional lighting. I managed to save it in Lightroom, but I hate relying on editing to save an image.” – Hannah
Day 6: Candle Light
“I wanted to get a reflection and glow on the window frame from the candle to give the whole image a feeling of the scene being lit by candle light rather than just being a photo of a candle.” – Hannah
Day 7: Merry & Bright
“This might be my first ‘fail’ of the challenge – I knew what I wanted to photograph, which was the whole light display, but it didn’t look right. Even as a long exposure, it didn’t work. So I went for an alternative photo so I had something to post” – Hannah
Day 8: Morning
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to photograph for ‘morning’, it’s quite a vague prompt and could be anything. But when I walked into the office and saw the light coming in through the blinds, I knew it had to be something using that natural morning light. This is also my favourite spot to sit in the new office, so I thought I’d share that with you all.” – Hannah
Day 9: Something Red
“Again, another day I had to quickly take a photo of plan B after plan A didn’t come out right. I never want to share photos for these challenges where I’m not happy with the quality of the photography, so I always opt to take a new photo which is ‘okay’ instead of sharing a concept that didn’t photograph well. I do share them as outtakes on my Instagram stories though, which are still saved in my highlights if you’d like to see @studiob61_hannah” – Hannah
Day 10: Double Exposure
“I officially hate double exposure! Last years challenge was the first time I’d tried it out and I included it in this years challenge to force myself to give it another go. It’s such trial and error though, I can’t get my head around how the two images are going to work together. I use the built in multiple exposure setting on my Canon 5DSR, it edits the 2 photos together for you but you can’t preview the image, which makes it difficult to line up your second photo – A lot of guess work! This was the best of about 100 photos.” – Hannah
Day 11: Reflections
“To begin with I was struggling to find a puddle which had a good reflection in it on an overcast day, all I could see was grey sky. But it turned out I needed to change my angle and get much lower to the ground. A good prompt for challenging us to look at things in a new way. I’m really impressed with how clear the reflection turned out in the puddle.” – Hannah
Day 12: Decorations
“This photo was looking really boring until I added extra fairy lights to get a bokeh effect… It’s still a bit boring, one to improve on next year.” – Hannah
Day 13: Baby, It’s Cold Outside
“This was one where I had an idea and I had to figure out how to execute it. I think it came out how I had it in my head. I just used the light from a street lamp which is harsh on the face, but I like the effect that had. I did have to do some editing work to change it from a yellow, warm light from the street lamp into something much cooler looking to match the theme.” – Hannah
Day 14: From Where I Stand
“I love a good ‘from where I stand photo’ I nearly always take one on every photoshoot I do. I like to show some of the weird and wonderful places I stand with my camera.” – Hannah
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 updates.