Taking a picture every day over the course of one year. This is what I will be doing from today on. While this isn’t exactly a new idea (there are whole services and apps around this theme) it is a first for me. I haven’t done it yet and this post helps me shout it out into the world and put some public pressure on me.
Why am I doing this?
- Challenge. I wanted to do this challenge for a long time, but have always been hesitant. Fear of failure? Probably. But this time I’m just taking the leap – no special day to start with, only a gut feeling that I should do this.
- Learning to see. Daily routines, paths and patterns seem to make life boring – but it isn’t! There is so much to see around us. We just seem to take it for granted or block it out of our view because we are fixed on a basic task (getting to work, shopping for groceries, …). I want to widen my view again for little details, beauties, surprises that everyday life has to offer. That also means stopping on my way, looking at things from different angles, finding that one photo. A lot of photos will probably be pretty basic or even boring subjects – finding 365 cool shots is hard enough – but at least I took my time and looked at the things around me.
- Creating. My task list is filling itself with unfinished projects and ideas. All tagged for infinity, when there is time. But this date will not come if I don’t make it happen. So, is adding another project the right thing to do? We’ll see, but it has a fixed rhythm and the outcome is well defined. Finishing something every day will hopefully lead to satisfaction and a sharpened sense for photography.
- The Best Camera is the One That’s with You (Chase Jarvis). I have my smartphone with me almost all the time. But I rarely see it as a camera (part of that because my old iPhone has a rather meh camera). Yes, it’s good that I always have a camera with me, but it would even be more desirable if I had a better camera with me. „Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times … I just shoot at what interests me at that moment.“ – Elliott Erwitt
- Diary. A nice little side effect is a visual diary of one year. Maybe an abstract one, but hopefully full of memories. I can even think of making a little photo book out of it, if I’m successful.
It is basically an extended and better version of my Discover album which only fills very slowly and where I’m already collecting shots of everyday life.
Rules
I set some rules or basic conditions for myself and this project. The most important one: take a photo a day. I’m trying to take my DSLR with me as often as I can, but for sure I will be taking a lot of iPhone photos too if its to impractical to take the heavy camera along.
Postprocessing is an important thing to do (and be it only cropping). Because I don’t want to break my workflow through Lightroom to Koken and my DSLR has no editing and posting ability, I will try to post daily, but at least once a week.
At irregular intervals I’ll post a small summary with progress, thoughts and favourite shots.
Vacations and times away from keyboard will result in fewer posts, but has no effect on taking photos. The timeframe of this project will be from 7. August 2015 – 7. August 2016.
Bottom Line
You can have a look at the Project 365 album, where all photos will be collected. Or you can follow me on Twitter, where I’ll be posting the updates.
Let’s go!
Mentions