Reengage 365: An Artist’s Practice
Reengaging my eye for composition requires thoughtful, deliberate attention. It asks me to return, camera in hand, to the language of light and shadow, line and pattern, emptiness and form. Much like training a muscle, strengthening the way I see requires consistent exercise. It is not enough to wait for inspiration. I must practice being attentive.
I have always believed in the value of constraints. The limitations we deliberately place upon ourselves narrow the aperture of possibility, creating a framework within which we can explore more deeply. Constraints evoke new approaches to problem-solving and give rise to the mindful activity of making art. Rather than restricting creativity, they often provide the structure it needs to emerge.
“The work comes when we work. Ideas beget ideas. The work itself is the creative process.”
Reengage 365 is about the mindful act of being creatively present. It is a process of shifting away from objective-driven lists of tasks and responsibilities and toward meaningful, deliberate creative exploration. For one year, I am committing to making one photograph every day, not necessarily in pursuit of a finished body of work, but as a way of returning to the discipline of seeing.
For much of the past decade, my creative energy has been directed toward product design and development. That work is creative, but it is also purposeful, collaborative, and tied to specific outcomes. Problems must be solved. Products must function. Objectives must be met.
Photography asks something different of me.
Photographing every day without a predetermined subject, project, body of work, or series in mind frees the creative spirit. It reminds me to be present, camera in hand, and receptive to whatever may appear. The photograph does not always need to begin with an idea. Sometimes the idea emerges through the act of looking.
This practice encourages me to notice what might otherwise pass unnoticed: the way light conceals as much as it reveals, the tension between two forms, a fleeting gesture, an interruption in a pattern, or an ordinary object momentarily transformed by its surroundings. These moments are everywhere, but they are easily overlooked when attention is directed only toward what is useful, urgent, or expected.
The camera becomes a frame through which attention is concentrated. It isolates, simplifies, and removes context. Through that frame, something familiar can become uncertain, something ordinary can become evocative, and something momentary can take on a sense of permanence.
The aim is not simply to produce 365 photographs. The photographs are evidence of the practice, but they are not its only purpose. The deeper intention is to strengthen the connection between the attentive mind, the framing gaze, the camera, and the world beyond the lens. It is an invitation to remain open to the undiscovered and to allow photographs to arrive as they may.
My hope is to awaken a creative engine that has been almost entirely committed to product design and development for the past decade and to reengage it through the act of seeing. I do not yet know where this year-long exploration will lead. The photographs may converge into a cohesive body of work, or they may produce many tributaries, each suggesting a different direction.
That uncertainty is part of the reason for beginning.
For now, the commitment is simple: one photograph, every day, for one year. Three hundred and sixty-five deliberate acts of attention.
“Why Have I Committed to 365 Deliberate Acts of Attention?”
