Day off. Well, not exactly. I called in. I took a nasty spill on the ice and my body feels like it's been run over by a truck. I just don't feel up to being on my feet all day in the Hobby Lobby frame shop. So, you'd think that I'd jump right in and use the time to get all crafty, right? Nope. Not in the mood to drag everything out when the ceative mojo isn't screaming, "Let's do this!" Instead, I'm just browsing the web, reading some blogs and doing a little light Facebook stalking, but not for long. Soon, I'll be back to my book - I have been reading (on Shelby's recommendation) the 'House of Night' series of books by P.C. Cast. They sort of remind me of the Harry Potters, but not nearly as good. Fortunately, they are an easy read and I can finish one in about 6 hours... Today, I'll read the 6th one and then have to wait until April for the 7th. And, on that note dear readers, I'm off to find my book!

'Til next time,

Wow. So much for my New Year's resolution to be a better blogger. 22 days. In my defense, It's been a crazy 22 days without a single day off. Can't wait for tomorrow. On a positive note, Project 365 has come along better than I expected, give or take a day, although I realize this morning that I am 3 days behind. I have discovered that I do not like taking pictures with my phone. Sure, the phone is good for random shots on the fly like a pop bottle sitting on my desk.

(BTW, yeah I drank that Throwback Mountain Dew. It was the most sugary, blissful 15 minutes of January 9th. But, I digress...)

To capture the real stuff that's going on around me, I gotta have my Nikon CoolPix! I was again caught with just a cellphone when I decided to capture this moment during the ice storm this week:

Hard to see, but this little elderly couple had slid into the stop sign and gotten stuck on a sheet of ice. The cop came and called a tow truck to get them back on track. The sweetest part of the whole thing was that the policeman helped them walk across the street to get to their car. The bad part of this moment was that right after I snapped this shot, Bailey decided to prance out into the middle of the street to say hello to the policeman. Luckily, leash laws don't apply during an ice storm!

Off to work. 'Til next time,

1.2.10

my best friend

Project 365

When Taylor McKnight started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004, he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.

Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!

This year, I've decided to take on this project. Here's a tutorial on how and why to create your own daily photographic history:

Project 365: How to Create a Daily Photographic History
www.photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Why do it?
Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:

•Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)

•Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.

•Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

Tips on How to Do It - Here are six tips on how to create your own Project 365:

1.Bring Your Camera Everywhere
Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.

2.Make Posting Easy
You can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog.com are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.

3.Vary Your Themes
Try to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.

4.Tell a Story
Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.

5.Don’t Stop, No Matter What
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.

There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.

Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!

6.Post early, post often
Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.