365

Well, folks, my 365 photo project has finally come to an end.  It's been an interesting journey, to say the least (but one could say that about most any project, especially one that spans a year).  Although there were entire weeks when I would struggle to come up with something (anything) to photograph, I never regretted starting.  And there have been a great many moments, as I occasionally looked back through each day's photograph, that I have been immensely grateful that I did start. So Paulie, this is a shout-out to you, for getting me started! :)

If you want to check out my full set, click here.

I learned a lot taking a picture a day, about photography, about my camera, about myself and the subjects I photographed. I learned about my interests and what I think is beautiful and what colors I prefer.  I even learned about life and society and why certain things are appropriate and other things aren't.

For instance, I learned that, the more pictures one takes, the more likely one is to get a picture that's worth something (anything).  I know, that's kind of a "duh" realization, but it's true! If you take, say, 50 pictures of a scene in front of you, you could come up with a priceless moment that you weren't necessarily looking for.

[Burke explains how Eskimo women harmonize their voices by standing really close together with their mouths open...?]

It's also frequently true that, try as one might, one may not be successful in taking a cool picture at all, all day.  And that's ok, too. Post it anyway.


And while you're taking a lot of pictures, people sometimes get frustrated with you--"did you get it? am I done?" and you end up with shots like this :)

[Viv gets tired of holding her hands up "just so" and starts making faces.}

I learned that my camera, my bitty point and shoot, does really well with macro focus shots (and less well with landscape shots).

Awesome.

Less awesome (but not too bad)

I've also learned that I really want a big, fancy digital camera (with this lens, I think), but am thankful for having a camera that I can stuff in my purse, and one that's better than my (albeit pretty nifty) phone-camera. It's the little things, right? :)

 And I've learned that my favorite subjects to photograph are People.  People are the most interesting Things on this planet, frankly. And I love looking back at the faces and emotions I was fortunate enough to capture on my light-writer.

And I love that something I recorded can make people smile :)  They make me smile a lot, recalling all the joy of the moment.  The peace or the happiness, blissful contentment, and delight.

I've learned that some photos, if I meditate on them long enough, will make me cry every time I look at them.  Some photos will always recall certain emotions.  And I'm glad I have those moments to reflect on.  "Not all tears are an evil," right?

I've learned that I'd like to be invisible.  See, when one has "just" a point-and-shoot camera, people look at you funny when you try to take cool pictures (which, admittedly, often forces you into sometimes-funny positions or odd angles).  I keep getting the feeling that if I had a more "professional" looking camera, people would dismiss it as "oh, she's a photographer." But right now, I just get looks that say "you're creepy."  Which is unfortunate.  Because I could get lots of  fun pictures if I was invisible, even with a point-and-shoot :)

Anyway. 

So this was a long way of saying I'm happy to be done with my 365 project.  Happy that I did it, and happy that it's over. It has taught me that it's great to take pictures of random things--the memories photographs stir up may surprise you later on--days later or years later.  I am glad that I will remember so much of this year, the first without Momma.  I will probably make a photo book on the project, but how I want to format it, I'm not sure yet. 

And I will continue to take pictures and post them. My flickr account won't be lonesome! I will also continue to upload pics to my picasa Web albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/ablack429 so visit there, too, and let me know what you think :D

Here are some other fun 365 sets. Some are themed and some are just all-around awesome.  Check 'em out if you like.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28338337@N03/sets/72157612133659652/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toomanytribbles/sets/72157611987286213/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noeltykay/sets/72157600009557880/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rattleandhum/sets/72157605378152096/ (http://legomyphoto.wordpress.com/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjjohn/sets/72157606390698331/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsimpson/sets/72157612018260559/