Seeing Work Through Your Eyes

My office is one of many in a hub of metal and cement filled with funky couches. We pool our resources and keep overhead low. We eat together, brainstorm in the passage way and sometimes argue about who gets the only meeting room first.

I loved my business until the snow came. For six weeks it blanketed down without ceasing and then turned into hard slippery ice. Ireland is not equipped for snow fall of this nature. The country came to a complete stand still. And so did business. What was supposed to be a relaxing holiday period became a cash flow nightmare for me and most other business owners.

I had to dig very deep to find resources and creative ideas to generate plans B, C and even D in some cases. Photography helped me do this. I started photographing what it is that makes my business unique, the space my colleagues and I occupy, and the people we work with. Despite the financial pressure, I was able to see our reason for existence and find a way to get through the pressure.

What frustrations does your workplace bring? Can you capture your workplace through photography in order to rethink the negative aspects? Think mud prints, laundry piles, stacks of books, rows of filing cabinets, messy pin boards and meeting schedules, stationery holders. These all make for creative play if we look at them differently.

For this month’s PhotoPlay, capture your workspace creatively using one of the techniques illustrated in the images below:

Scissors: (Notice the close up focus on one object)

Hands: (Notice the overexposure of light on fingers and mouse)

Notice board: (Notice the low angle at which the image is shot)

Paper clips: (Notice the Rule of Thirds and the shallow depth of field that blurs the background but focuses on the object)

As promised, here are a few changes to improve your participation in PhotoPlay:

• We are moving to an open Flickr group and we invite you to post your PhotoPlay images there from now on: PhotoPlay submissions
• Be sure to tag your image(s) with the word “work”, your name and your blog or website URL.
• The feedback post will be a gallery displaying submissions from the prompt and a featured image.
• The deadline for this month is Wednesday, January 19.

Photo by Mikael Colville-Andersen, used with permission via Flickr. PhotoPlay prompt by Claire Burge.

For more photo fun, visit Claire and Kelly at High Calling Focus. There you can get a regular dose of their expertise and encouragement.