Last day of 365

And here we are, the end of 2009. A year ago, I laid out my plan to take at least one photo a day through the year as a means to stimulate the creative process and get back to doing something I loved. At the end of that project, I'd call it a success. I found myself looking at things differently, trying to see if there was a photo there I wanted to hold onto. I took my time a little more, not rushing from point A to point B as much, even telling myself it was OK to be five minutes late if it meant taking a few shots on my way there. And I stayed true to my own few, loose rules: At least one shot, no matter the quality, taken between the hours of midnight and 11:59 p.m. Only once did I miss that window, technically. During a day of organizing the basement, I knew I wanted to document my efforts, and though I figured I'd take a shot of the workbench, I forgot to do it within the 24 hours. Although the physical image was taken the following day, the mental image was in my head within the window. There was also one day when the upload to the computer failed and the images were lost somewhere in between camera and hard drive. So although I took the required photo that day, the image that represents it was taken early the next morning as I left work. So in a way, it still fits, because the day, for me, had not yet ended.

Most of my images from the year were taken with the Canon Powershot point-and-shoot that I bought last December almost exclusively with this project in mind. Although I love the handy P&S for convenience in carrying with me everyday to work, as a result I don't take the time to craft shots the way many of us do with SLRs. So while I won't be making a conscious effort to shoot photos everyday in 2010, I hope that one of the lasting effects from this past year is that I use my SLR a bit more. I also hope to be regularly active with this blog, posting a few times a week, perhaps using weekly photo themes as inspiration. And I'd really like to scan in my film images, so perhaps that will be next year's resolution, at least photo-wise: Scan a group -- a roll, a place, a session, a theme -- per week. We'll see how that goes.

Happy 2010 to all. Time to party.

Ambitious resolution

Sometime in mid-November, as I looked a window or took notice of a particularly pleasant autumn scene before me, I lamented the lack of a camera nearby -- or was just flat-out lazy and didn't make the effort to walk inside or upstairs to get it.

Then, one late, quiet night at work, in the early-morning hours, I whiled away the final few minutes browsing Flickr and found myself (as I often do on such virtual strolls) inspired. Hopefully, that inspiration carries over into action, because as I've thought about it over the last few weeks, I'm excited for the potential this project could bring.

My resolution for 2009? One photo a day. Every day. Three-hundred and sixty-five new images, each taken during a different 12 a.m.-11:59 p.m. period. I know it's not a new or novel idea, but I think it's just the thing to spark my creativity and avoid the regret I feel when I see a particular scene and think, I've got to remember to come back here with the camera tomorrow, and then never do.

Ideally, I'll not only shoot at least one picture a day, but I'll post one, too. I'll give myself more leeway in the posting department; while I'll have only 24 hours to shoot a photo for a particular day, I'll allow a few days' worth to pile up if I can't get to a computer or take the time to organize the images. That may be the project's undoing, but so be it.

I understand that I won't be able to produce 365 stellar images. Not every day is going to lead to a praise-worthy shot. Maybe not every week will. But that's not the point; the aim is to see what a different scene each day leads to. I'm sure there will be more than enough days when I post a picture of the cats or a closeup of a leaf just to mark that day done. But I also expect that setting this goal will lead to some new personal discoveries in my artistic eye, method and results.

I'm excited to see what comes of it.

Here's one last 2008 picture to start things off as the snow comes down on New Year's Eve in Boston.

Snow on Tremont