My wife and I have been traveling in our van for the past year or so. Our first national park was Glacier and we entered at 6am. We took a picture of the entry sign but since it was so dark it came out really blurry and we didn’t feel like retaking it, so now every park we enter we take a bad picture out of the window. It’s our “shitty park sign picture” project
Oh definitely about the bathroom. Noticing things. Color choice combinations are a big thing for me. Because I'm building a house I look at everything: light fixtures, floors, tile choices., wall art, attemps at being homey, cheery, how things relate, dirty floor corners.... Also, single or double ply!? This is a big one. The nicest bathroom I went into last weekend, with a vaulted brick ceiling in the basement of a large theater, indirect lighting, super dramatic and gorgeous: single ply. What a mistake!
Love it. Although, I think in order for it to be completely pointless, you'll have to continue taking notes about bathrooms long after you build the house... :)
Sometimes I feel like I only have pointless projects. Your mirror project made me think of Eric Olander's amazing craigslist mirror project - if you haven't seen it: https://www.ericoglander.com/craigslist-mirrors
Yes, I have something similar. I collect photos of spring flowers, especially flowering magnolia trees, flowering almonds, tulips and our state flower, the California poppy. Not adding much to this now. Every year I am so happy to see spring arrive. I ask myself, how many more springs do I have? Then I cook asparagus.
Ever since first reading your article I've wrestled with "what is a pointless project". I think my own personal conclusion is that it shouldn't require too much effort, it should bring joy, and there should not be money involved. I also love writing code so I've just built a little website where you can paint 5 pixels on a shared canvas. It's been fun watching it evolve and getting comments from friends about it.
I do have a pointless project of my own. I take everyday stickers and labels and put them in a composition notebook. Page after page of labels and stickers with barcodes on them. Those little yellow/orange/pink stickers from Amazon deliveries, the other barcode stickers from Amazon and UPS deliveries, the small barcode stickers from fruit, etc. Why do I do this? I have no idea! I am a collage artist but I've yet to use any of the pages in the composition book for a collage, unless you count the random application of random barcode stickers as a collage.
While taking the subway during our vacation in Montreal I happened to snap a shot of my wife and I reflected in the window opposite us. It’s an odd shot, a little hazy and ethereal like we’re ghosts, like we’re the only thing in the shot that feels unreal, contingent. You’ve got me thinking about taking more pictures like that.
My mom decided to make the first and last recipe of every cookbook, inspired by this post. She can't look at the next cookbook until she finishes with the current one.
I love to rehab dingy figurines that I find at the swap shed or on the curb. I paint them, put gems or googly eyes on them, give them super powers, and *voila* they are born again. I've done this to an angel, a furry zombie character, a car, and more. :)
Gah some of these mirrors are so lovely, too! I love how each one is just a fraction of time. And in the case of the broken mirrors, a fraction of a fraction.
Yes, a few of the mirrors I imagine got snagged by some other passer by who wasn't on a bike or walking the dog :) I like your fraction of time point, that's really good
Photos of: Manhole covers, things that are “left behind” without an owner, the same shot from the same spot at least twice a week for over 2 years. Who knows where they will lead :-)
Your admirable photo projects helped inspire a manhole-cover photo project for me that is beginning to bear fruit… I’ll be running a series of photos along with the thinking each photo inspires (about my work as a semiotician) at HILOBROW in April…
I think this kind of noticing is how I first connected with your blog. I used to take photos of my feet with my apple phone until they fixed the glitch. I have an album full of feet photos. It happened by accident at first, but then I started to take them on purpose. I still do!
My wife and I have been traveling in our van for the past year or so. Our first national park was Glacier and we entered at 6am. We took a picture of the entry sign but since it was so dark it came out really blurry and we didn’t feel like retaking it, so now every park we enter we take a bad picture out of the window. It’s our “shitty park sign picture” project
This is great! Interesting to set out to make "bad" pictures ha ha
yep. I started something called Notes From A Bathroom. totally pointless.
Well, for starters, that's a great title!
: )
What kinds of notes do you take? Are they *about* the bathroom or just notes from *within* the bathroom? I hope it's the former.
Oh definitely about the bathroom. Noticing things. Color choice combinations are a big thing for me. Because I'm building a house I look at everything: light fixtures, floors, tile choices., wall art, attemps at being homey, cheery, how things relate, dirty floor corners.... Also, single or double ply!? This is a big one. The nicest bathroom I went into last weekend, with a vaulted brick ceiling in the basement of a large theater, indirect lighting, super dramatic and gorgeous: single ply. What a mistake!
Love it. Although, I think in order for it to be completely pointless, you'll have to continue taking notes about bathrooms long after you build the house... :)
true. It’s not pointless enough at this point!
But then, isn’t that why we like to notice things? To find a point to paying attention.
Yes, noticing can be its own reward!
I take photos of trees, walls, etc. with holes going through them so you can see the sky. I've even made a few watercolors from the photos.
That's a really really good one, I'm going to keep this one in mind in the days ahead. Thanks!
Sometimes I feel like I only have pointless projects. Your mirror project made me think of Eric Olander's amazing craigslist mirror project - if you haven't seen it: https://www.ericoglander.com/craigslist-mirrors
I have seen that but I forgot all about it! Sooooo good!
Yes, I have something similar. I collect photos of spring flowers, especially flowering magnolia trees, flowering almonds, tulips and our state flower, the California poppy. Not adding much to this now. Every year I am so happy to see spring arrive. I ask myself, how many more springs do I have? Then I cook asparagus.
Oh that's a good one! (And keep eating your asparagus !)
Ever since first reading your article I've wrestled with "what is a pointless project". I think my own personal conclusion is that it shouldn't require too much effort, it should bring joy, and there should not be money involved. I also love writing code so I've just built a little website where you can paint 5 pixels on a shared canvas. It's been fun watching it evolve and getting comments from friends about it.
http://fivepixels.pointlessprojects.com/
I think that's an excellent definition! And I'll check out the site -- great URL ha ha
I do have a pointless project of my own. I take everyday stickers and labels and put them in a composition notebook. Page after page of labels and stickers with barcodes on them. Those little yellow/orange/pink stickers from Amazon deliveries, the other barcode stickers from Amazon and UPS deliveries, the small barcode stickers from fruit, etc. Why do I do this? I have no idea! I am a collage artist but I've yet to use any of the pages in the composition book for a collage, unless you count the random application of random barcode stickers as a collage.
This sounds great -- delightfully pointless but I bet pretty compelling. Have you shown any of it online?
While taking the subway during our vacation in Montreal I happened to snap a shot of my wife and I reflected in the window opposite us. It’s an odd shot, a little hazy and ethereal like we’re ghosts, like we’re the only thing in the shot that feels unreal, contingent. You’ve got me thinking about taking more pictures like that.
My mom decided to make the first and last recipe of every cookbook, inspired by this post. She can't look at the next cookbook until she finishes with the current one.
Oh I love that idea! And it may be an inspiration to take a new look at cookbooks I've neglected for ages.)
I love this so much! <3
Why thank you! I appreciate that!
I love to rehab dingy figurines that I find at the swap shed or on the curb. I paint them, put gems or googly eyes on them, give them super powers, and *voila* they are born again. I've done this to an angel, a furry zombie character, a car, and more. :)
That's a great one! Bonus points for thoughtful treatment of underdog objects :)
Gah some of these mirrors are so lovely, too! I love how each one is just a fraction of time. And in the case of the broken mirrors, a fraction of a fraction.
Yes, a few of the mirrors I imagine got snagged by some other passer by who wasn't on a bike or walking the dog :) I like your fraction of time point, that's really good
Photos of: Manhole covers, things that are “left behind” without an owner, the same shot from the same spot at least twice a week for over 2 years. Who knows where they will lead :-)
All great -- I really like the "left behind" idea
I take photos of painted utility boxes that I like.
That's a fun one! Thanks :)
Your admirable photo projects helped inspire a manhole-cover photo project for me that is beginning to bear fruit… I’ll be running a series of photos along with the thinking each photo inspires (about my work as a semiotician) at HILOBROW in April…
Oh I look forward to that. I'll link to it!
I think this kind of noticing is how I first connected with your blog. I used to take photos of my feet with my apple phone until they fixed the glitch. I have an album full of feet photos. It happened by accident at first, but then I started to take them on purpose. I still do!
That's a great one!
This is so wonderfully inspiring, for so many reasons. Thank you for sharing ways of looking at the world
Thanks Rhonda!