What’s the deal with “52 Picks”?

Photo Credit: Edita Aleksandraviien - Water (2020)
Photo Credit: Edita Aleksandraviien – Water (2020)

52Frames is NOT a competition.

You may have heard me mention this before. So why have a “52 Picks” album at all? Well, I believe that there are standout photos each week worth highlighting, and that it’s a nice way to display a small album of photos, that would maybe be missed in the larger album.

The way I see it, this is inspiration. Motivation.

Not competition.

But that wasn’t enough for us. We so much don’t want 52Frames to be perceived as a competition, that we’ve put together a committee of NON-experts (and some professionals as well) to do the choosing each week.

And not only that, we have guest whittlers on the committee, that are rotated each week, so even the pool of photos we choose from are diversified.

This way, it’s not just “technically sound” photos that are highlighted, but also photos that catch the attention of a wide-array of personalities; photos that are different, loud, or just weird.

But that wasn’t enough for us!

2020-24-hands-349atie-grove_2
Photo Credit: Katie Grove – Hands (2020)

We found that people would still put too much focus on trying to “get in” to the 52 Picks album, even with the knowledge that your ego-brain will sap your creative growth.

So, we decided that every so often (every few weeks? maybe once a month?) we will pick a totally random sub-category, just for fun, and only highlight photos from that category for the 52 Picks album for that week (for example, only black and white photos, or only photos shot with a mobile phone, etc..)

This way, it’s so far from the definition of competition, because there is simply no way that you could know when or how or who could pick your photo, that it’s best to just “let it go” and enjoy the process.

Photo Credit: Zaneta Bytautiene - Dancing (2020)
Photo Credit: Zaneta Bytautiene – Dancing (2020)

This whole project is about letting go.

Letting go of your “ego” so your creativity can thrive.

Letting go of perfection, so you can focus on your growth.

Letting go of the voice in your head, so you can start to hear others.

Letting go of the voices of others, so that you can amplify your own. (see what I did there?)

There is no right, no wrong, no winner, and no loser.

There is only tapping into your creative self.

And seeing what person you can become.

See y’all next week.
 Happy shooting 🙂

Your Framer-in-Chief,
-Yosef