On Monday I finished my Project 365, a challenge wherein you aim to take one photo every day for a whole year. I am not someone who always finishes a personal challenge (I've secretly gone veggie and then secretly failed or forgotten more times than I can count) so this felt like such an achievement.
If you've never done a Project 365, I am here today to convince you to at least give it ago - with some of my tips from the experience to help you along!
It is an amazing record of your year. It's really lovely to go back and see what I was taking photos of a year ago; there is photographic evidence of when I started knitting again, what my favourite breakfasts are and lots of photos in my ugly but very zen uni room.
You can see how far you've progressed: my first shots are all night time ones, with artificial light, because I took a while to work out when to fit photo taking into my daily routine... As such they are certainly not my best work. I can also clearly see when I started getting to grips with framing and editing - my mistakes were not pretty but they were most certainly educational!
Every day, you have an opportunity to be creative. Taking a photo was, at times, a real struggle; if you look through the album you will see evidence of cheat days where I forgot and days where my shot was far from polished, but it meant that nearly every day I was pushing myself to find a new subject and to try again.
Tips and tricks: I'm not going to pretend I am the best photographer - I am a rookie who loves learning, plain and simple! That said, I did learn a lot through this experience, so I thought I would put together my best advice for you...
- Make time for your photos. I used to tidy my camera in a box under my bed, but I ended up setting the habit of having it within arm's reach from my bed. It was one of the first things I would see each morning, meaning I could shoot first thing. In the winter, it is usually too dark in the morning, so I wish I'd set an alarm at lunchtime so I could take a photo on my lunch break - it would have meant fewer cheat days!
- Don't worry if you miss a day. Just keep going. Some weeks involved nearly as many cheat days (when I'd post a snap that wasn't from the day in question) but I am very glad I carried on.
- Consider posting to a private album. I didn't share the link for my Project the whole way through doing it, which worked for me as I felt less pressure.
- Get inspired. I love Ines' project, and this one by M. Klasan.
- Aim for consistency, not perfection. Simply taking photos every day means you will improve, so don't sweat it if yours start out as bad as mine did! As I said above, seeing where you went wrong is actually super helpful.
Apart from that, just get out there and have a go!
I hope you guys consider trying this project... It is a great challenge! If you are interested, here is mine to snoop at. In the meantime have a wonderful week!
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