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There have been several threads asking about 2014 resolutions, photographic goals, etc., but I haven't yet seen a thread about reflecting back on the year we've just completed.
What have we learned or how have we grown this year? I put this in Photographic Discussions because I'm mostly thinking about these questions for photography, but I suppose it can be expanded to "life lessons learned" and moved into Off Topic if appropriate.
In the past few days, I've seen the revival of a couple of 365 projects that either didn't get finished or perhaps got finished elsewhere. I was curious about the threads and how other people fared because I've actually just completed one and it figured prominently in what I've learned and accomplished this past year.
In one thread, and Bitter Jeweler said:
Well, here's my jumps of joy at completion: :bounce: Link to blog and Flickr are in my signature if you need proof!
And I won't say it was AMAZING because I rarely say anything is AMAZING because I'm just not a gusher, but I will say that it was a very very positive experience for me.
Later in the same thread, manaheim said:
When I went into this, I had no idea of whether or not I'd finish it or what I'd gain. I could certainly see many people giving up relatively soon, and if the task is to take a new picture every single day, then it would definitely encourage filler pictures.
In a way, I suppose it could be said that I 'cheated' by giving myself a task that was more doable and realistic. Instead of insisting that I post pictures that were taken that day, I tasked myself with posting a different picture everyday. Shooting mostly film, it would be prohibitively time-consuming to shoot a roll, develop and scan, and then post on the same day, and I wasn't interested in a digital-only 365 Project, so I improvised. In that way, I also hope I was able to keep the 'filler pictures' to a minimum (well, minus the "Caturday" pictures I posted every Saturday. Still, some of those were challenging to get!) Sometimes pictures were posted without comment, and other times I wrote more lengthy posts around the picture or series of pictures. Sometimes I included older pictures that I wanted to compare or discuss in relation to my newer photographs.
So, at the end of the year, what did I learn? How did this Project 365 help me learn or grow as a photographer?
Looking back, I did resort to more digital and 'filler' pictures near the start, but I moved slowly to posting film pictures almost exclusively (except for my Caturday posts). The deeper I got into the project, the more I wanted to push to try new techniques so I could show different things. The Project was part of what prompted me to revive the Polaroid. It was the spark I needed to finally get developing my own film at home. It helped me explore different subjects and films and techniques. I got new equipment that allowed me to be creative in new ways. I respond well to external deadlines or obligations, so I do feel that the pressure to make a picture public on a daily basis motivated me to keep moving forward.
Perhaps I'm delusional but I feel that I can see a progression from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I've become more adventurous and confident and I think that has been expressed in the images I posted throughout the year. I wouldn't do a second 365 Project back to back with the first, but it's something I would consider again. Either that or a 52 Rolls project (one roll of film per week).
And that's my story. What's yours?
(PS - And if you still don't believe in 365 Projects, what would you say if it involved bacon? https://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/ :mrgreen: )
What have we learned or how have we grown this year? I put this in Photographic Discussions because I'm mostly thinking about these questions for photography, but I suppose it can be expanded to "life lessons learned" and moved into Off Topic if appropriate.
In the past few days, I've seen the revival of a couple of 365 projects that either didn't get finished or perhaps got finished elsewhere. I was curious about the threads and how other people fared because I've actually just completed one and it figured prominently in what I've learned and accomplished this past year.
In one thread, and Bitter Jeweler said:
Well, here's my jumps of joy at completion: :bounce: Link to blog and Flickr are in my signature if you need proof!
And I won't say it was AMAZING because I rarely say anything is AMAZING because I'm just not a gusher, but I will say that it was a very very positive experience for me.
Later in the same thread, manaheim said:
When I went into this, I had no idea of whether or not I'd finish it or what I'd gain. I could certainly see many people giving up relatively soon, and if the task is to take a new picture every single day, then it would definitely encourage filler pictures.
In a way, I suppose it could be said that I 'cheated' by giving myself a task that was more doable and realistic. Instead of insisting that I post pictures that were taken that day, I tasked myself with posting a different picture everyday. Shooting mostly film, it would be prohibitively time-consuming to shoot a roll, develop and scan, and then post on the same day, and I wasn't interested in a digital-only 365 Project, so I improvised. In that way, I also hope I was able to keep the 'filler pictures' to a minimum (well, minus the "Caturday" pictures I posted every Saturday. Still, some of those were challenging to get!) Sometimes pictures were posted without comment, and other times I wrote more lengthy posts around the picture or series of pictures. Sometimes I included older pictures that I wanted to compare or discuss in relation to my newer photographs.
So, at the end of the year, what did I learn? How did this Project 365 help me learn or grow as a photographer?
Looking back, I did resort to more digital and 'filler' pictures near the start, but I moved slowly to posting film pictures almost exclusively (except for my Caturday posts). The deeper I got into the project, the more I wanted to push to try new techniques so I could show different things. The Project was part of what prompted me to revive the Polaroid. It was the spark I needed to finally get developing my own film at home. It helped me explore different subjects and films and techniques. I got new equipment that allowed me to be creative in new ways. I respond well to external deadlines or obligations, so I do feel that the pressure to make a picture public on a daily basis motivated me to keep moving forward.
Perhaps I'm delusional but I feel that I can see a progression from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I've become more adventurous and confident and I think that has been expressed in the images I posted throughout the year. I wouldn't do a second 365 Project back to back with the first, but it's something I would consider again. Either that or a 52 Rolls project (one roll of film per week).
And that's my story. What's yours?
(PS - And if you still don't believe in 365 Projects, what would you say if it involved bacon? https://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/ :mrgreen: )
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