Please enter your email and website or LinkedIn to receive more information about our free and paid accounts.
Please enter your email address below and we’ll send you instructions on how to change your password.
Eight years ago, England-based photographer Jason Evans was looking for a personal project to fill his slow work time during the holidays. After some thought, he came up with his “First Light” project, for which he photographs the first light of the new year, every year.
Not only is this project fun and inspiring for Jason, it is also used as an annual new year emailer, which his friends and colleagues have come to expect and look forward to. Jason explained why personal work is so important to him:
It gives me the opportunity to try something new without having to please a client. I have freedom to try new techniques, lighting, location or subject matter. It can be hit or miss, but it is creative freedom and is the best way for me to evolve as a photographer.
As the project evolved, Jason struggled with how to make each image different from the other while still photographing the first light. He started picking out details and incorporating people into his shots.
Jason plans to continue the project in the coming years, using the photos as indirect marketing tools:
This is the ninth First Light picture and I will continue to shoot them indefinitely. It’s an indirect marketing tool for me and a chance to reach out to people that I don’t necessarily speak to that often. There has been a great response and conversation. Many people contacted me after this year’s email asking to see if they could see the whole series.
What has this series taught Jason? That it’s much easier to get up at sunrise on January 1 when you don’t have a hangover!