COVER STORY

A Photo a Day

Photographer Alon Goldsmith completes daily art challenge

Every day in 2021, Alon Goldsmith took photographs mostly around Venice and Santa Monica and posted a new one on his Instagram account daily for his “365 Project.”

PHOTOS CREDIT: ALON GOLDSMITH

By Bridgette M. Redman

Every day in 2021, Alon Goldsmith took photographs and posted a new one on his Instagram account daily. Goldsmith, a world-renowned photographer and Del Rey resident, has published many books of his photography, including the recent “Portraits of a Pandemic,” a book documenting people at home during COVID-19. His latest series of work is the “365 Project,” where he posted one photo per day taken mostly in Venice and Santa Monica. It’s a challenge that he knew many other photographers had done and he wanted to try it himself. He’d always wanted to try it and 2021 was the year where he was going to make it happen. It is a process that has altered the way he looks at things. “I’m pretty much reacting to where I am,” Goldsmith said. “That’s how it works. I’m always hunting for a photo. I’ve got to be hopeful that cool things will happen and I’ll be there to catch it. I did try to put myself in places that might stir up something interesting.” All of the photos were taken on his iPhone, and most were taken while on a bike ride. The rules to the project were fairly simple but difficult to enact each day. The rules were to post an image every day for the entire year and that image had to be made on the day it was posted. As the year went on, it became a practice almost like meditation or yoga, Goldsmith said. He had to get into a flow where he was connected to things happening around him. “I think it is learning to see things in a different way, because you’re having to come up with something every day for a year, which is pretty challenging,” Goldsmith said. “You kind of train your eye to look out for things you might not normally see.” Because his standards were high for what he published, Goldsmith ended up making one slight alteration in the rules. While the image he posted had to be made on that day, he could take a photo from the day and merge it with a photo he’d taken on another day. “There were definitely days where it was challenging to find something,” Goldsmith said. “There were some occasions where I had gone through the entire day and I had nothing I was happy with, so I would be forced to create something new in the computer, manipulate a photograph I had taken or join two photographs together. As long as the final work was created on that day, I allowed myself that latitude.” Most days though, the challenge was the opposite — narrowing it down to a single image when he had as many as 20 that he really liked. In those times, he sometimes reached out to friends or family and asked them which of his images they preferred. A few times, he changed out an image, though always with one that was made on the day in question. A few times, his followers revolted against a decision he made. One day, Goldsmith was riding his bike through Fisherman’s Village in Marina del Rey when he saw a bird fly in front of him that had a surgical mask in his beak. He wasn’t quick enough with his phone to get the shot. By the end of the day, he had no images that he was satisfied with. So, he recreated what he had seen in Photoshop. He took an image he had taken that day of a bird which he didn’t feel was interesting by itself, then he superimposed a mask onto its beak. “It was a bit of a cheat, but I named the photograph ‘Masquerade’ as a bit of a tip of my hat to what I had done,” Goldsmith said. “The image is pretty strong and I posted it and it got a lot of traction. People really loved the shot. I thought about it and felt guilty, so I posted and told everyone what I had done. It created this huge furor between people who could accept that I had done it and people who didn’t. A lot of people consider me to be a street photographer, but that is not street photography even though it looks like it. It was an interesting lesson. I still kept it in the project because that is what I did on that day.” He said if he includes in in the coffee table book he hopes to release from this project, he’ll tell the story of how it came to be. In addition to a coffee table book, he hopes to show the pictures in an upcoming exhibition, though that is not yet arranged. Goldsmith said the project is a very unequal one with some shots better than others. Ultimately though, every image has something about it that speaks to him. It also influenced his practice as a photographer in a way that he thinks will continue to affect him going forward. “There is no question the project as a whole changed me in some way,” Goldsmith said. “I’m not the most consistent person and the demand for consistency every day for a year is something quite powerful. It was an exercise in resilience, keeping at something and tenacity. It helped me to see things in new ways, because I’d say 90% of the images are taken in one square mile of Venice Beach. To go back to the same place every single day or almost every single day and try to find a photo in that same place with those same scenes — that was really challenging.” Being able to do that successfully is something Goldsmith said has been good for his sense of self, and his perspective and point of view. Most days he’d

All of the photos were taken on Goldsmith’s iPhone and were of various interesting things he saw while out on bike rides.

find his photos during his hour-long bike ride that he does for exercise. However, on those days where he came home without anything interesting, he would sometimes go to his backyard or get his kids involved. Other times he called on his dog or his friends’ dogs. “You never know what you’re going to see wherever you are,” Goldsmith said. “You might get the photo at Trader Joe’s or on the way there. It’s just keeping a sharp eye and really looking out for those interesting moments.” For example, one day Goldsmith saw an older woman bent over and sleeping while standing up on her walker. She was in front of an industrial garage door and someone had spray painted “Viagra” on it. He named the photo “Hard Times” and it is one of his favorites. Aside from the photos where he merged images, Goldsmith said he actually did a small amount of processing on each image. On some, he deepened the shadows or upped the dynamic. A few others he made a little tighter or put through a crazy filter. “It’s a range, but it is mostly pretty authentic straight out of the camera,” Goldsmith said. Having completed the year, Goldsmith said it is unlikely he will do it again. He said it is all-encompassing and he doesn’t want to be stuck doing the same project when others come along. He’s joined a collective of street photographers and plans to be doing a six-month long project in 2022. But while Goldsmith is ready to branch out, he encourages others to try it. “It is an incredible experience, and I would highly recommend to anyone who has any interest in photography to give it a try,” Goldsmith said. “It’s a growing experience.” All the photos can be seen on the Instagram account Goldsmith set up for the project (@alon_goldsmith_365).

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