It is that time of year when resolutions are made and maybe you have one to take a photo-a-day. In October, 4 years ago I started a 365 project. One day I noticed that I had taken a photo a day for a week. I decided to see if I could last 30 days. After 30 days I decided to try for a year. At the end I loved having a visual documentation of our year and continued the project. Before 2017 ended I thought about stopping but after seeing the compilation I decided to give it another go.
At the beginning of 2018 I started to incorporate more self-portraits and I challenged myself to be in the frame more with my kids. For the first quarter of the year I did a pretty decent job of including myself. I would say a number of things happened that led to me not “finishing” the project. First, I started having some severe back issues that I believe came from carrying my camera around all the time. Specifically, I think it was the bag since I loaded it up with what I needed for the day. Secondly, I started to get a little bored. And, then in September our life became chaotic I don’t think I took a single photo of the kids until the end of November, and only a few time in December. We sold our house, bought another house and moved all within 6 weeks. Plus I had my busiest work season since I opened and didn’t have the energy or space to focus on anything else in my life.
Over the last two weeks I spent some time reviewing the images that I did take and it has pushed me to give it another go. What I love about looking back is seeing everything that we did. So often it feels like the year is a blur and it feels like weekends just evaporate. It is a nice reminder to see some of the moments that I forgot about.
So, if you just started a 365 project give yourself some grace if you miss a day and remember why you are doing the project. Whether it is for yourself or to learn a new technique or to document your year just pick the camera up again.
If you don’t see the video above, just refresh your browser.
My mom really dislikes how fast the video is so the photos from the year are below for you to view at your own speed.
[…] I completed my first 365 project, I compiled the photographs into an album and a short end-of-the-year video. Even though I spend a […]