I think all Photographers have different definitions of what "Personal Work" entails. For me, my personal work has to be something I enjoy shooting and allows me to push myself. Most of the time, I push myself with creative composition and using one lens all day, but this time I wanted to take pictures of some fun kids, running around like crazy with some studio lights ;)

Around this time last year, I had an idea to take some awesome pictures of kids dressed up like super hero's! I mean, what kid doesn't feel awesome dressed up like a super hero? I also wanted to test out some studio lights and find out how easy or hard it is to take pictures of kids running around while using studio lights.

I had the Dark Knight pose for me on top of a bench in front of a cloudy sky! It wasn't exactly Gotham, but after a little editing, it turned out cool. This shot also helped me to fine tune my editing of silhouettes, which has become a huge hit with my wedding couples!

Wolverine was in full beast-mode through out the shoot! Here are a couple live action shots of him!

This last shot was at the end of our shoot. Wolverine could have probably shot more action pictures, but I was getting worn out, so we settled down and I told him to "signal me to come here" and he nailed it! 

So personal projects can be just about anything, but I hope whatever you choose to do, they push you learn new things and take more chances. I'm a wedding photographer, but it doesn't mean I shoot only weddings. Personally, I feel like wedding photographers can handle anything! We are a spontaneous bunch always looking for the next creative thing to take pictures of! Doing this shoot, helped me to lay out a plan (which is very foreign to me), but it was good to experience it. It also helped me to refocus on using my studio lights outside, which is always great to get a refresher on!

I would love to see some of your personal work! If you have any you would like to share, send me a link through the comments below. If you don't want the world to see it, send it to only me at joe@joehendricks.com

Have a good week!

Joe