Photo Friday – Project365 Advice

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Dec 302011
 

I know of at least 2 people, Molly of Molly’s Daily Kiss and The Bare Naked Lady Jill Boyd, who are thinking about trying a Project365 in 2012. I’m a day away from completing my second year (minus about 40-50 days I skipped), and I’ve learned a few things along with way about staying motivated, so I thought I’d share some of those lessons. In no particular order

- Get in the habit of bringing your camera with you EVERYWHERE you go. You can’t take a photograph if you don’t have your camera.

- Look around. There are opportunities for photographs literally everywhere. You’ve already got your camera with you, use it!

- Make it a habit. Find a schedule to edit and post that works for you. I view and edit my photos in the evening once the kids are in bed and typically schedule photo posts to publish at 12:01am. Some people have tried taking a photo a day and then putting 7 days worth of photos into a single post. If that works for you, great.

- Challenge yourself. Try a theme for a week, try a manual mode, anything that may challenge your technical or artistic capabilities.

- Don’t be afraid of taking bad pictures. The photo today of my mom’s dog? That’s one of about a dozen I took until I got something I really liked. Some days I get what I wanted on the first shot, some days I’m combing through dozens looking for a great (for me) shot to share.

- Have fun! My first Project365 I didn’t miss a single day, in order to do that some days it became more of a chore. For the second year, I cut myself some slack once in a while. Whether it was due to travel, lack of motivation or I needed a break from my computer, if I felt like skipping a day or two I did. Then just pick up where you left off.

- Read photography blogs for inspiration. I love Digital Photography School, PetaPixel and Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider. DPS has a weekly photography challenge, it could be a word or an idea, the goal is to interpret it as you see fit with a photograph, and the challenge can often help you challenge yourself or break out of a rut.

Any other suggestions, dear readers? Emmy, Dana, anyone else who has completed one? Feel free to use the comments section to share your words of wisdom!

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Looking for something else in my blog archives, I found a similar post that I wrote just about a year ago, it has a number of links to other resources around the web.

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So You’ve Started a Project365?

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Jan 052011
 

This time last year a number of people that I know through blogging or Twitter said they were going to try their own Project365.  As the weeks and months went by, with just a few exceptions one by one they stopped posting pictures and gave up.  Some of them are trying again this year, and others are trying for a first time.  (Which reminds me, I need to update my blogroll to indicate who those people are.  If you’re trying a Project365, for the 1st time or trying again, let me know so I can follow along, please.)

With that in mind, I thought I’d share a few links to some sites with tips for staying motivated

From PetaPixal, 13 Tips for Staying Motivated in Photography

The Digital Photography School has a number of posts that could be useful.  Last weekend they published a post 53 Weekly Themes for your 2011 Project365.  There are no rules or guidelines, just some suggestions for themes during the course of the year.  I downloaded the spreadsheet with all of the themes and I’m sure I’ll end up using some of them.  Here are their 11 Tips to Succeed with a Photo365 Project and here are 5 Cheap and Easy Ways to Re-inspire Your Photographic Creativity.  DPS also has a weekly photography challenge which can be fun to integrate into your Project365 once in a while.

Another idea, which I’m yet to do but keep meaning to, is to join any of the 365 Days or Project 365! or Project 365 groups on Flickr.  I just created a Flickr account, too bad I haven’t uploaded any pics yet or joined any groups yet…

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The tips that have worked the best for me is to carry my camera with me everywhere I go and to make posting to my blog a habit.  Downloading photos at the end of the day and drafting the post doesn’t take long at all, if I waited to do them in batches, a few days at a time, I think I might have more trouble sticking with it.

Some days, like today, I’m not exactly thrilled with my photo.  I had something else in mind, outside, but the lighting wasn’t right when I passed by the spot I was thinking about, so I settled for another idea at home.  But, I still worked on composition, getting the lighting and camera settings right (or at least pretty good) and got more used to using Lightroom, which I’m still learning.  Though I have to admit, if you click on the photo and zoom in to view it at 100%, I got some really good detail, so that’s a plus, right?

My photographer readers, do you have any links to share or words of advice for people trying a Project365? Please comment!

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Day 365- Projects Complete!

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Dec 312010
 

Time: 1:15 pm
Place: Hallway

There used to be a collection of portraits of the kids on these walls.  We decided to take them down and scan them to go in a digital picture frame instead.  What started as a simple project grew, as is often the case.  After I spackled the holes from the picture hooks, I looked around and realized that the entire hallway area could use repainted…

Time: 1:15 pm
Place: Stairs

To reach some of the spots on the wall, I had to maneuver my 12′ extension ladder inside.
It barely fit and was uncomfortably close to vertical, I really wasn’t too happy up there.

Time: 1:20 pm
Place: Hallway

During the day I tweeted something along the lines of “Cough cough, I think my palm sander needs a new dust catcher”
See what I was talking about? Our house isn’t normally that dusty, really!


Time: 2:30 pm
Place: Living Room

The dog was rather disinterested in my efforts!

Time: 5:30 pm
Place: Hallway

A few hours later the paint was dry, I removed the tape around the door and trim molding and hung the picture that my mom and step-dad gave us for Christmas.  Not too bad, if I may say so myself!

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And now I’ve done it, I completed my Project365!!!!

My goal was to take a photo every day and publish it the next day and with a few exceptions, I succeeded.  When I went to Ft Lauderdale in February I took so many photos that I spread them out over 3 or 4 days.  There were also a couple of occasions when my photo was taken after midnight, so technically there are probably some days that I didn’t take a photo.  But that’s minor stuff, there are 365 Project365 posts as of today.

Did I accomplish what I set out to do?

I believe I did, I think I’ve become a much better photographer.  My first pictures were taking using Auto mode, basically my DSLR was a glorified point-and-shoot camera.  I’ve gotten to know the camera controls A LOT better and shoot exclusively in Manual mode now.  I’ve also become more mindful of composition and more of the art of what makes a good photograph.

Am I done now?

No I’m not!

Tomorrow starts Project365, Year 2!  More on that tomorrow :-)

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Day 364- Double Dose

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Dec 302010
 

Time: 9:00pm
Place: Kitchen

First it was PP to the doctor on Tuesday and a diagnosis of a mild case of bronchitis.
Not to be outdone, Veronica went to the doctor on Wednesday and returned with her own bronchitis diagnosis :-(

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Tomorrow is Day 365 of my Project 365, I suppose I should do something special to acknowledge meeting my goal…

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Day 363- Pillow Pet

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Dec 292010
 

Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Living Room

Princess Persistent loves the pillow pet she got for Christmas.
She also really likes Despicable Me, which we were watching for the 2nd time when this photo was taken.

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Day 362- Snow Drifts, and an Asshole

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Dec 282010
 

Time: 9:30am
Place: Yard

With the 40 mph+ winds that came with the snowstorm, snow drifts were inevitable.  On one hand, parts of my driveway were practically devoid of snow.  On the other hand parts of my driveway had 2 ft of densely packed snow…

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Monday evening I was sitting on the couch and noticed this car in the street down the block a little bit.  I watched it for a few minutes, it was obvious no one was in it, it was just sitting there.  It bothered me enough that I had to get dressed and go outside to see just how much it was blocking the street, since from inside my perspective was off.  Is anyone surprised that I brought my camera outside with me?

Who parks like this?  Oh right, some asshole who thinks the world revolves around him…

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Day 361- Solitary Shoveler

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Dec 272010
 

Time: 8:30 pm
Place: Home

As nasty as it was out (you can’t see the snow because of the shutter speed I used, but trust me, it was bad!), I can only think that my neighbor across the street has to work on Monday despite the state of emergency!

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Day 360- Detritus

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Dec 262010
 

Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Garage

The boxes that out-of-town relatives used to ship gifts to us only added to the normal pile of packaging and wrapping paper.
With the blizzard that might hit us later Sunday, I suppose I should clean up & make room for Veronica’s car…

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Day 359- Well-Done and Over-Done

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Dec 252010
 

Time: 6:30 pm-ish
Place: Around Town

We’ve developed a tradition- after Christmas Eve services at church, we ride around town admiring how people decorate their homes for the holiday.  The kids have fun ooh-ing and aah-ing when they see a place they like, while Veronica and I cringe at the amount of effort some people put into it.

We LOVE the house in the top photo, it’s done just right- clearly some time and careful deliberation was put into the lights and decorations.

The bottom photo? Yeah, they went a bit overboard! And this photo doesn’t even show the side yard of this corner lot!

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Opening Lines 2010

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Dec 242010
 

The first line from my blog on the first of each month in 2010.  Feel free to steal this for yourself, that’s what I did!

[Every month has a Project365 post on the first, if there was also another post, I took the first line from that other post, for the sake of variety]

January- “Today I’m starting my Photography Project365″, from Project 365-Day 1, the post that started it all, and still going strong 358 days later!

February- “In numerous posts we’ve talked about boundaries and the importance of you and your partner discussing and setting them” from Swing Shift Volume 30- Communicating Boundaries.

March- “To the NEW Hubman’s Hangout!” from Welcome!, the first post after I migrated from a WordPress-hosted blog to my own domain.

April- “Defense Attorney:  Will you please state your age?”, the opening line of an April Fools joke.

May- “Veronica has a post up today that I’m encouraging you all to go read and follow the links.” opened Cancer Sucks, Kids with Cancer Really Sucks

June- “I took several pictures on Monday and couldn’t decide which to use, so I’m posting two completely different ones”, Day 152- Take Your Pick offered 2 pictures for Project 365

July- “It’s the simple things in life that bring me so much pleasure…” HNT Kissing My Wife

August- “On Friday morning I moved out the hotel that’s located 6 miles away from where I go for “work” while I’m here.”  Camaraderie was about one of the many positives that came from my move while I was in Texas for 9 weeks.

September- “Tuesday afternoon I was chatting on the phone with a friend and she asked what I was wearing.” For Wanton Wednesday I offered Proof of my (lack of) clothing :-)

October- “Get used to seeing that Twitter hashtag on Friday, the New York Sex Bloggers Calendar Party is tonight, and Veronica and I are going!” Day 274- #NYSBCP showed some of Veronica’s lingerie that she was packing for our trip.

November- “Last week I had a short post about saying goodbye to a unicorn friend that Veronica is no longer interested in playing with.” Comments on Comments, Different Responses highlighted 2 divergent comments we got to a previous post.

December- “I think I’m guilty of it today.” started out Piss-poor Planning, about some frustrating I was experiencing while I was in Orlando at a conference.

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I like this look back, it shows the variety of content I publish- pictures, travel, jokes, HNT, swinging-related stuff.  If you steal this, please let me know so I can see a glimpse at your year in blogging (or less, if you haven’t been blogging for a year).

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