Photography Projects | 365 Project & Project 52

So I recently finished a 365 project. Phew.

For those unfamiliar, a 365 project is one where you take a photograph every day for 365 days. Sounds simple enough, right?

It's a big commitment. Every now and then it's difficult to remember amongst all the things going on in our daily lives to stop to take a photo. But it's sort of like stopping to smell the roses. You stop what you're doing and you capture a moment. Sometimes it's something neat you see when you happen to have your camera on you and you just have an instant to get it. Sometimes you have your camera on an adventure and you have no doubt you'll find an interesting subject. And other times it's something you've decided to photograph ahead of time and you approach it when you're ready.

I did that last one a few times. This afternoon I will take a photo of the flowers on the counter. or Tonight I will photograph whatever I make for dinner. Though I photographed many things food eventually became a popular subject. It's fun to make a pretty dish and, best of all, your food will sit there and let you photograph it from twenty different angles without the slightest bit of impatience.

Now that the project is over, a few people have commented that it's weird to see me around food and not pulling out my camera. I now really enjoy visually digesting my food before I actually eat it.

I am so glad I did it though. It was so gratifying on those days I caught tiny moments where the light was just right and everything was in the right place. Doing so reminded me how much I love natural light photography.

It was a source of stress relief on other days. The daily photograph could bring a little light into a particularly dark day.

And now, flipping through them to write about it for this post, I can see a record of my year. For better or worse I can see what I was feeling every single day. I can see myself develop.

With my 365 project I granted myself a year-long opportunity to explore photography and post-processing. And I have no doubt that I'm a better photographer than I was 373 days ago.

So that's why I'm going to recommend this project to anyone who likes taking photos - even if what you normally take is the occasional snapshot of your kids with your point-and-shoot. Take one photo every day. Go for a theme or photograph whatever you want. Post them somewhere so you can see them all in one place.

I told a few people where I was putting mine and I got some good feedback plus it kept me going on the project. I knew people would be looking for the next photo. Don't have time to post every day? That's ok. Post photos from the 7 days before at the end of the week. Do what works for you, but give it a shot.

I know. We're already past January 1 - the traditional time to start. But this is your project. Start it whenever you want. Start it on your birthday. Start it February 1st.

If 365 days is too intimidating, try Project 52. That's what I'm considering this year - one photo a week for every week of the year. I figure I'll probably be taking the photos anyway, so why not?

©2011 Kristin Serna This post and these photos cannot be republished without my permission