alphaphot review, part one

he Alphaphot project started in November 2005. That was the task I set myself to try to look at things around me in a different way. I also wanted to try a quick and dirty alternative to photography, rather than spend hours adjusting and tweaking images in Photoshop. Now that I've been using the results as drop caps in this blog for over six months, it seems appropriate to review the project.

Thoughts of a review started when I found myself unable to start blog posts with particular words because I didn't have any images of the required letters. It seemed ridiculous to allow the images to dictate the words, and I began to wonder whether the idea had run its course.

I'm sure you won't be interested in the detailed statistics, so here's a quick summary. So far, I have a total of 200 images, of which I have used 85, although occasionally through absent-mindedness and a couple of times through desperation, I have used a few images more than once.

Admittedly, of the unused images, seven are for the letter 'Q" and eight are for 'U' which I have never yet used as initial letters, while I have very few for some of the more common ones, so the distribution is uneven. The most common initial letters in my posts are 'I' and 'T', so recently I've been concentrating on finding more of these.

I'm surprised how easy it can be to see letters in everyday objects, though I still have to make a conscious decision to look for them. I also find that the attitude I need for taking 'proper' photographs automatically excludes the search for letters. There is definitely a limit, however, to what can be found, so remembering to look when visiting new places is now essential if I'm to continue with the Alphaphot project.

(to be continued - perhaps)

Tags: alphabet | drop caps