It's a simple concept: take a photo every day for a year. That's it really. Sounds easy.
That said, Project 365 became one of the "Biggest" goals of my 101, so I'll try to give it a decent debrief.
A Favourite: Day 80
The verdict: 318/365
I ended up with 318 photos in my 365 set on Flickr, which gives me 87%. Not perfect, but I still would have scored a High Distinction at university, so I won't be too hard on myself. My main interest when I started was in taking better photos and I'd say that happened: as a trend, the photos towards the end are better than those at the start. Strangely though, my favourite pics (below) seem to be in the first half of the year.
I hadn't really thought about the "diary" part of the project when I set out, but I'd say that's now the reason I'm most glad I did it, and the reason I would most like to repeat it. I've never kept a diary (except for the sort that says "Handwash dress!!" and "QF107 10:25") and never particularly wanted to, but it's kind of amazing to be able to flick through the last year. A horrifying number of pics are of airports and plane interiors, but I can also see the seasons; the snow; the beach; moving house; graduation night; the sights of NYC; the growth of my basil plant; and the cafes I've blogged and studied in...
The details: 2 cameras, 0 people
I used 2 cameras: my canon point and shoot; and my iphone. The iphone was super-convenient, discrete and reasonably good quality, but made me lazy. There's something about holding an actual camera, even a tiny one, in two hands that makes you at least pause a moment. As for rules, I had a bit of a subconscious prohibition on people in my pics. I was uploading them to flickr and didn't really want to expose myself or my buddies. I don't know if that was entirely necessary...
The good
- I became a better photographer
- I have a fabulous journal of my year
- My favourites: 21 March, 3 April, 24 April, 30 May, 7 June, 19 August
- Flickr's most "interesting": Day 34, Day 80, Day 76, Day 25 and Day 116
- Your's? Do you have different favourites?
The bad
- Timezones! I missed so many days crossing the dateline...
- Any daily task is a chore at times
- Taking snapshots felt like a folly on days when my job/immigration status/general life was in limbo
- Uploading I got used to, labeling remained a massive pain
Should I do it again? I think I'd like to. Maybe I'll start on my birthday in a few weeks... It felt a little strange to start on a random date in February. Maybe it'll be part of my next list.
Phew! Time to go and rescue the laundry. Maybe I'll take a picture of it.
