365 - Final Status Report

I did it. I took a picture a day for 365 days.

4/24/07 New Vistas

5/18/07 Holding Hands

6/8/07 Zoo Train

My 365 project was both harder and easier than I had initially thought it would be. I really enjoyed taking pictures every day. It (please excuse the pun) focused my attention on what was important during my day. Some days it was hard to get a picture I liked, especially when I was in the office and not with my favorite subject. This led to pictures of my blackberry, craft projects or Chris looking bemused at 10:30 pm. For crafts, it was probably good - a regular photo album most certainly would not include pictures of things I made during the year, but now I have a little record of the clothes, toys and superhero capes I put together for myself and others.

7/21/07 Sheep Wagon

8/22/07 Diving Helmet

9/26/07 Chicago El Train (camera phone)

Ironically, after a year of taking pictures with my little pocket camera, at the very end of the project I finally bought a nice camera. The past 5 months my little Sony has been half-broken. Maybe I dropped it one too many times, but it won't let me zoom. When I try, it freezes up. I am excited to use a camera with more whistles and bells. I sort of feel I earned the camera by sticking with the project for the full year. If I could keep it up with the Sony, the Nikon should really make me want to take pictures.

10/7/07 Pumpkin Patch

11/11/07 Matched Crazy Hair

12/17/07 Hats

One side benefit of this project is that it has opened me up to the possibility of trying other projects. The other day Susie and I were talking about families that gave up buying things for a year. One such family was profiled in the Oregonian recently. They decided they could buy things that ran out regularly (food, paper towels, toilet paper.) but not things that broke or wore out on a longer-term basis (toaster, clothes, birthday presents). Susie said a friend of hers tried it for three months, to break herself of the habit of shopping when bored. I am intrigued by the concept, but also scared by it. A year without buying? It is practically un-American, right? (Another reason to do it.)

1/3/08 Bunka's Birthday Card

2/26/08 No Trace of Her Fun Day is Evident

I am not jumping into this kind of project just yet, but I am open to new projects, especially creative ones. I think for now I will start a 52 photo project. A picture a week is a bit more manageable than one a day. And now that I have my brand new camera, I have to keep using it, right?

3/16/08 Bacon-face

4/3/08 Thomas