These are my favorite 100 photos of 2007. That I took, anyway.

They’re not really in a particular order. That was far more complex than I could fathom creating! Enjoy.

I’m backlogged on photos at the moment, but I took an hour today to select and edit a few images from my ongoing Sun Signs project. These images were taken this afternoon. I skipped posting any images for Cancer or Leo, but I’ll post those as soon as I can. That’s the problem with these personal projects—they always get lower priority than work for clients. :\

What’s the Sun Signs project about, anyway? Scroll down below the photos in this post for more details.

See more in this set on Flickr

The Sun Signs project is a long-term art project that I’m doing. It’s a project that I’ve been thinking about for years, and finally started working on last June. It’s a project that I fully expect to be working on when I’m 40, 50, 60…heck, as long as I can pick up a camera and find people willing to sit for me, I’ll be working on this project.

The premise for this project is simple enough: How does astrology influence who we are? My goal with this project is to let each person’s personality shine through as much as possible while I’m photographing them, and then select the image that captured their “essence” the best. I do not pose people for this project—honestly, I rarely pose people at ALL when I photograph them, but I definitely do not do it with these images—and I stick to extremely simple lighting arrangements and framing. I am not trying to be artistic with the images, or to do anything staged or contrived. What I want is to capture moments of people being exactly who they are in that moment in time.

I am taking these photos on people’s birthdays because that’s when the astrological energy is the most focused on us, according to the astrologers I’ve spoken with. On our birthdays, the universe’s energy is extra validating of those qualities that make us unique, astrologically-speaking. My ultimate purpose with these images is to display them in various combinations (a show of all Capricorns, or all air signs, or all queers representing each sun sign), and let people draw their own conclusions about how much (or how little) astrology impacts each of us.

If this sounds like the kind of project you’d be interested in participating in, here’s the low-down!

Details:

• Cost: $30 at my studio in Redmond, WA ($50 if you prefer me to bring my lights and equipment to you and you are located in the greater Seattle area. Outside of the greater Seattle area, please email me.)
• You sign a model release form allowing me to print, display, modify, and use these images for this project and in my general portfolio.
• You must be available on your birthday, either during the day or in the evening.

You recieve:

• Online proofing gallery from which you, your friends and family may order prints
• DVD of high-resolution (print-quality) images, with a print and display release
• Professional (though minimal) re-touching and image processing

If you’re interested in participating, please email me at mcb@mollybennett.com with your birth-date and we’ll set something up! People from all walks of life are welcome: age, race, ethnicity, size, shape, gender, sexual orientation, shoe size and ice cream preference are unimportant!

One of my favorite photographers, Anne Ruthmann, makes a point to post a new desktop background each month that people can download. I think this is a fabulous idea, so I’m going to start doing the same! Look for a new on next week, since there’s only one week left in August. Click below for the large version of this month’s image:

See more from this set on Flickr