Reflections on Project 365

I started this project, thinking of it as a way to share our lives with each other, via images. I also liked the idea of committing to do something daily for an entire year. I had a notion that I would enjoy photography as a creative pursuit, but really, I had no idea how much!

As the year wore on, my shots became less about sharing my life, or finding interesting situations to capture, and more and more about how to create different images. I became captivated with macros and abstract shots (Yes, I was fond of shooting Diet Coke bottles). My Nikon Coolpix did particularly well with these type of shots and I enjoy these types of images.

By about September, the project was wearing on me – not in terms of picture taking, but in terms of my creativity. I had come to the point of caring about things such as depth of field in my images, and my point and shoot had severe limitations. These were the days of grinding it out, with a fun and satisfying image here and there. And there were always the sky, trees and windows to fall back on. Speaking of FALL, it saved me. The glorious colors, and close up leave shots spurred me on to the arrival of my NEW CAMERA.

Of the entire year's shots, I am most satisfied with my December images. I feel like they are the culmination of everything I learned through the year – like the way my little camera forced me to work on composition – and I think that learning came through more and more as this last month wore on and I got the feel for my Canon 40D. I love the way it feels and sounds. I love it like the smell of a new book. Thanks Jeff for the advice!

So, I’m continuing on in project 365, as I cannot imagine a day without taking and viewing photos.

The relational and community aspect of 365, that was part of my original motivation for the project, more than surpassed my expectations. It has been unbelievably cool to see the lives of friends through their daily images, and their eyes. Altogether unexpected was finding another community of 365 people and getting to know them and to have a sense of who they were without even knowing them IRL or in another online context: Scrivener, Billie, Liane, Overread, Jayfish, Zerodoll, B*, Cloudscome, and Ianqui. Over the course of the year, I found myself subscribing to the written (non-365) blogs of my new friends. (Mazel Tov, Ianqui!)

Who initially linked these peeps to the Trapdoor/Lamppost crowd? Beth?

Oh and speaking of written blogs, I’m not sure how I got to Jo(e) , but she combines images and words in ways that make me laugh, cry, and stay motivated to become a better writer and photographer. Through her, I’ve seen the power of image and storytelling.

Which reminds me that Cloudscome and her main blog, A Wrung Sponge, has been my inspiration for trying my hand at haiku.

Who first linked Jo(e)? Was that you, Julie?

And, then there's Sharon...who is the most faithful commenter, ever. I think I was googling to find other 365ers and saw a pic of her Boston Terrier, Augie. I commented on her blog and then she commented on mine and so forth. Or was it the other way around, did she find me that way?

It’s funny how once these viral connections are established, it’s so hard to remember how and where they originated.

And then, in Fall, Mike showed up, commenting on my blog, and I began to see pictures of London and enjoy his cheery, regular comments. I commented back on his pictures and was impressed to see what a large community of bloggers he was a part of.

It’s these ever expanding, surprising connections, that I hope 365 brings more of in 2008.

Well that, and more bokeh, of course.

Here are my favorites from my 2007 shots. Interestingly, when I selected these shots, after I had written all of the above, I found myself drawn to the pictures that evoked a certain feeling and memory for me, as much as the ones I thought were the best images.



However, my favorite image for 2007, above all, is the paper towel macro. It makes me so happy that I noticed, and captured, something as insignificant as the textured, wavy edge of a roll of paper towels. That was the turning point for me, when I began to really SEE.



Next, I'm going to post my favorites from all you guys! Can you tell I'm a little carried away with this year-end reflections stuff?

But seriously, this project has meant so much to me and so have all of you.

Thank you Lauraliz, for without you I would never have known about this project.