my project

For Scott Ferguson, photographing a league of Mixed Martial Arts fighters meant changing his ways. “My work is more conceptual shots, where I have control over the lighting and the scenario,” the St. Louis-based advertising photographer explains. “This project was more like photojournalism, which I have very little experience in.”

Online Photo groups can inspire and motivate you, as Stéfan le Du found in making a Flickr “365 Series,” one photo a day, using his plastic toys and household objects. “I like to base a series on a theme or a story,” the Star Wars fan from Nantes, France, says. “It was only after I’d taken about 10 photos of the Stormtroopers that I realized I had enough to do a marathon.”

Ever wonder what astronauts do in their free time? Commercial photographer Hunter Freeman does. “You have these incredible people, with a really great but tough job,” he says. “When they’re not working, what are they doing?” That curiosity developed into a photographic interest seven years ago, when he had an assignment from Microsoft to photograph someone in an astronaut outfit. “We’d rented this expensive suit, shipped up from Los Angeles,” he recalls. When the assignment was over he still had two days left to return the suit, so he decided to make the most of it.