Pictychy

I’m starting a new project—a series of creative collaborations. It’s called Pictychy (pronounced “pick-tick-ee”), and you can head on over to see what it’s all about or keep reading for a bit of the backstory.

A couple of years ago, my friend Shelli sent me a link to 3191: A Year of Mornings, wherein two friends who live 3,191 miles apart each took a picture every morning and shared them on a blog. (The blog is no longer available because it has been made into a book, but there are a few examples if you scroll down at that link.) I loved the idea—especially the collaborative aspect of it—and filed it away, wondering vaguely if someday I might find someone with whom to share a similar project.

Meanwhile, I continued to find (and get sucked into) inspiring photo projects. But the truth is I tend to lose interest fairly quickly either because I don’t have enough of a personal connection to motivate me to participate (adding images to get lost in Flickr pools generally isn’t for me) or because the scope is just too big. (Although I’ve been doing really well with taking a photo every day for my own Project 365, I really don’t want to commit to taking a self-portrait every week for a year or to do anything else for a year for that matter.)

Then one day it finally occurred to me that what I really wanted to do is everything—lots and lots of projects—but in small doses. I really like the idea of having a finite, doable project (think December Photo Project or Tulip Week). And adding to it a collaborative aspect, i.e., getting to share ideas and make art with my friends, is right up my alley.

I originally wanted to call it the Diptych Collective, but Wordpress was charging $17 a year for that domain name, so Pictychy it is. I am, of course, still figuring it out a bit as we go along, but I’m eager to get started and see what develops (ah, ha ha ha).

First up is a photowalk that Rebecca and I took a few years ago. I imagine that Pictychy will generally focus more on current/new projects, but it seemed appropriate to start with this one. Even though we didn’t plan on making it a collaboration as such, my memories of the day really resonate with the spirit of what I want the project to be about—friends “brought together to share different perspectives, tell shared stories, and encourage each other as photographers and artists.”

(You’ll also find the first in an ongoing project about color—I’d like these to be primarily collaborations, but this time I took both images in the diptych just to get things started.)

I’ll be adding a new image every day this week, so check back often (or, better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed).