365 Photo Project

Way back when, in the spring of 2009, I decided as part of my 101 Things in 1001 Days that I would start a photo project – taking a photo every day for a year.  I figured it would be kind of a cool way to journal a year of my life with photos and also it might help me improve my photography skills.  I learned a lot in that year, which ended back in March (I know, I’m a little slow to talk about it).  One of the things I learned is that many days, I just wasn’t feeling it.  So I’d take photos of the cat or some other method of “phoning it in”.  Of course, after losing Romeo in June of this year – those photos of him at 10pm at night are precious to me.  But, I also learned that on days when I am feeling it – I took some great photos.  And it was fun to look back at them and see some of the things that happened during that year.  The photo at the top of this post was my first photo for this project.  I’ve even used one of my 365 photos on my About page.

It was a hard project – hard to stick with, and some weeks I didn’t.  But, I’m so glad I pushed myself to do it.  And some of the most rewarding photos were captured when I said to myself “I’ve been wanting to stop and take a photo of that for a long time”, and then I just pulled the car over and got out with my camera.

I thought this “wrap up” post would be a good place to share some of my favorites from the year too.  But, if you’d like a look back through those 52 weeks, you can find the posts here.

There were photos from Miami, photos at work, photos on my way to school, photos from the “walkabouts” I went on with Eric and his camera club, photos from my first 5k and photos celebrating holidays with our families.

It was even an interesting way to look back at the books I was reading during the year – because strangely those books ended up in my photos more often than not.

I documented snow on Christmas Eve, and then later in February when we had snow again.

But above all, I’m glad I had this experience and that I challenged myself to do it. I’m so appreciative that it brought Eric and I closer together as he taught me the ins and outs of using my camera, suggesting trying new settings, and walking with him in the snow – cameras in both of our hands.

It was a crazy, whirlwind of a year. But, at least I can look back at these photos and remember.