My Favorites for my 365 Friends

Beth - Spigot in a Sea of Green. This is a wonderful capture and so is the other one, Steering a Course through a Sea of Green. And I love the word Spigot! I also love that you used these for an art project, they are so graphically appealing. I hope you will keep posting pictures of your art projects. I also love the picture of your family in the tree.

Billie - two of my favorites of yours are very recent. In fact, the colors are very complementary and must be ones that I really like. I think they would look wonderful framed and displayed together: Bird in Flight and Water and Tree at Night. I love and respect all your shots of people, ANTM is my favorite. Pink Petals in Harsh Light is amazing and a wonderful departure from the familiar flower shot.

Bright Star - 250/365 Star. I like the simplicity of composition and the post-processing and the fact that it is a bright star. :) Other than that, I'm going to have to go with your airport shots: 330/365, 332/365, and 302/365. They really capture the feeling of travel for me. Oh, and the vicarious hammie therapy was much appreciated!

Carol - 245 Red. Amazing light and color. Great eye. All your sunrise and sunset shots are amazing. And you are the reigning queen of the close up flower shot. Most of all, I will remember your shots for their cheerful, hopeful commentary and your obvious love for your family and friends.

Dalissa - Garden Blooms. Fantastic composition and background and they grew in your yard and they seem very *you*, at least to *me*. And then there are all the photos of your girls -- so lovely and filled with their personalities. Who could forget the kitchen art installation? You are wonderfully creative -- especially with obscene veggies (I'm still trying to find the link!)

Dancingirl - My Favorite Things. It looks real and I love chickadees and I love seeing something special to you. It's a really appealing composition too. And don't forget, if I ever visit, please take me to these trees.

Ianqui - Sir Gawain. Certainly you have many beautiful images, great city shots, and very creative shots too, but this one just strikes my fancy. I love the colors the angles and the absurdity of it. Plus it was one of the first few images of yours that I saw. And I can't forget this one, a favorite of my daughter, and soon to be on her wall (now that I have finally found a decent place from which to get prints).

Jayfish - 156/365 Subway. Such a tough choice, since I love your minimalist eye, but this one really stuck with me for its composition and mood. I also love your sunflower shots, 225/365 and 226/365, which were gorgeous and surprising coming from you. :)

Jeff - It has to be George. I love the creativity of your images and the messages they carry. Your wedding and engagement shots are amazing. But still, I adore this capture of George, with his little post-its on his lamp. He looks like someone I would like to sit and talk with. And this shot, Random, really captured something for me. I love the mood of it so much.

Jess - My favorite image of yours is the one on your header. The light is wonderful, casting the delicate shadow of the lace curtain. Just so lovely.

Jim - Encased. You're definitely a kindred spirit in what you like to photograph. This shot is wonderful with the red amidst the clear, shiny ice and the repetition of another berry in the background.

Jo(e) - And I Shall Have Some Peace There. First off, this place is gorgeous and I loved reading about your annual retreat. Second, I like imagining you amongst those sheep and possibly throwing one at someone. :) Frozen, is wonderful. I love that combination of colours (your spelling ;-))Of course, I am a big fan of the all naked blog shots too.

Julie - Budding Violets. I love the delicacy that you captured in this shot. The light is wonderful too. You have so many wonderful light shots -- like Come Into the Light. I've come to associate African Violets with you. Of course, I also count The Aftermath as a particular favorite, but I wanted to select a different one than you had for yourself. Oh and let me add Rising Up to Greet Me, because I was so trying to get a shot like that in the spring and I love this one with the blue sky.

Katrina - Sunset at Topsail Island. It's just so beautiful there. And it seemed to be such a special time that you all shared together.

Lauraliz - Changes. The seasons reflecting in the lake is a favorite of mine. But my all time favorite is Lamp Post and I can't even really say why. It just evokes something for me.

Liane - Support. I love the composition that creates the religious imagery, it seems especially appropriate for you. Of course, Not Hogwarts, is a very close second. I really want to sit in that room and think about important things. Oh, and here's a third, Coming Home. I really enjoyed seeing pictures that depict your life's calling and how much it means to you.

Mary - Of course I have to pick two, one for each location. For Dakar, it's a tie between Out to the Terrace and My Window. I love seeing your home and its architecture, plus window and doorway shots are so lovely. For stateside, my favorite is Smoky Sight. I can't get enough of how that white smoke looks against a grey sky. Even in an almost colorless setting, it is so striking.

Nicole Rae - I don't know if I could ever pick just one of yours. I love your eye and your post processing and the art you create. But here are a few of my faves: Abstraction, Old Navy, Purple, Buddhism...ok, so I do have a favorite: Haunted.

Overread - Where did you go?!? My favorite theme of yours is the smoke shots. Simply amazing. And your most memorable shot for me is your most excellent use of selective saturation.

Mike - I only started looking at your photos recently, but I do love seeing your little corner of the world, and your fondness for the sky and trees. This skywatch is a favorite of mine, as is this beauty of a tree.

Sandie - I LOVE your recent sky shot. The goat shots, especially Luna, are ever charming. And, of course, there's that handsome old man. And I musn't leave out this very creative reflection shot.

Sandy - the queen of nature shots. And do love nature shots! My faves are: Fall Reflections, Pink Hibiscus, Lizard, and Magnolia. Your photos remind of my childhood!

Sandy Cove - another kindred spirit with all your nature, sky and tree shots. But my absolute favorites of yours are Two Boys and Walking in the Woods.

Scrivener - you are an inspiration with your creativity, especially in your self-portraits. I bet you will make it through a year of them! My two favorite self-portraits are Christmas is going to the dogs and I couldn't sleep at all last night. Both of them amuse me and make aware of a deeper meaning at the same time. My favorite shot for the year, and I really don't know what it is about it, is Ellis' Rusty Bench.

Sharon - I love ALL of your sky watch shots, particularly this one. And I cannot get enough of the color, lighting and mood of these Christmas tree shots.

Susan - my favorite of yours, for the entire year, is a recent one: Water's edge. I also love you on the drums and the shot of your gazebo sanctuary.

Zerodoll - Queen of the displaced shopping carts. I also have to give you props for the most unusual and unexpected shot of the year, a very creative engagement announcement, and an abundance of cute cat shots.

I hope I did not forget anyone and that all the links work! Thanks so much everyone for enriching my life with your images this year.

ETA: I'm looking for the picture of the olive dish...whose was that?!?

ETA2: I just cleaned up all the typos that I could find and fixed a couple of missing links (haha darwin joke). So if you find a typo, please overlook it, and if you find a bad link, please let me know!!

ETA3: Thanks to Jo(e) I now know that the olive shot belongs to Ianqui. I remember that shot so well, it's just so excellent, and it made me realize how much I had to learn...in a good way.

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.

November Retrospective

November will be remembered as the month I was able to get selective focus, desired DoF (mostly), and bokeh. Finally.

October Retrospective

While I am continuing to experience camera fatigue with my little point and shoot, I really appreciate the shots I got this month. They are truly representative of my fall, so far. I like all the sky and tree shots, as they never fail to move my soul, and the rainy days (we so needed them!), but I also like all the ordinary objects that I shot up close, or gussied up with some effects.

I'm so close to getting my DSLR, and I can't wait to learn more when I get it.

September Retrospective

Got a little spark of creativity back this month, but I'm still grinding a bit.

August Retrospective

Lots of good memories in here. This month I really felt the fatigue of this project. Coming up with interesting things to shoot on very routine and similar days is challenging.

July Retrospective

flowers? check
sky? check
macros? check
trees? check
photoshopping? check
treasured pics of kids and little dog? check!

June Retrospective

Apparently, I am fascinated with the sky. And flowers.

May Retrospective

Looking at this mosaic, I am pleasantly surprised at how much meaning there is for me in each shot.

Even though I am always trying to be creative and improve my photos, this month I got a little something more. These shots have somehow become a part of me. I wonder if that is specific to the shots, the month, or just a progression of this project and how important photos have become to me.

May is filled with shots that are special: a treasured tree, a place where I met a friend, my children being who they uniquely are, shots that brought funny and kind comments from all you 365'ers, and many others that are just plain evocative of the feelings that passed through me this month.

All that and two shots of the little dog -- who came through a cancer scare this month, and now has a clean bill of health!

Sigh, this is a happy thing.

April Retrospective

March Retrospective

February Retrospective

January 2007

Totally stole this idea from Julie. And I love it :-0