Project 365

It sounded fun. It could've even sounded easy, but I knew better. I didn't think one photo a day, no big deal, I thought one photo every 24 hours, 7 days a week, for 365 days....and it overwhelmed me. About three days into my first attempt at Project 365 I missed a day and didn't start the project back up for several months. When I did begin again, I cheated. I redefined the idea to be 365 images in one year, instead of one a day. It works out the same, right?

Well, yes and no. I did better. I took over 90 images for the project, most of which I really liked. I have some images in my portfolio from these. But by changing the parameters I changed my approach. I no longer had to force myself to shoot when uninspired or look for inspiration. I could get lazy and blow off a day, after all, I could just shoot two images the following day. Then life happened. My home was broken into, my vehicle trashed, and my favorite lens was damaged. It broke my heart a little, and in the aftermath of trying to get my life back into some semblance of normality and feeling like this would be such a better shot if I could use that lens, etc. excuses excuses, I put my camera down for weeks.

I did eventually pick it back up and start shooting images for the project again. I even managed to get the lens I love so much working. But by then I had fallen so far behind that I just felt I couldn't catch back up, and I quit. But instead of beating myself up over failing to meet a goal I had set and failing to finish something I started, I looked at it from the recovery angle of progress not perfection. What a novel idea to apply the principles of recovery to the rest of my life. No, it's not an original idea; that's a huge part of step 12.

I did make progress. I shot over 30 times the number of images the second time that I tried this project as I did the first. Five days ago, I officially filed the paperwork for my own business, Eclectic Imagery - Photography and Fine Art. My days have been busy getting things going with that. I haven't had time to shoot anything I wasn't being paid for. But I know that if I wait until my life is not too busy to start this project once more, I'll never do it. Besides, it's a year long commitment, and I pray that there are going to be many times in the next 365 days that I am quite busy. So I am going to start again. Today.

The website for my company is up, and this evening I plan to start a new blog to go with it. It will cover what I am doing, tell about promotions, give photo tips, etc. It is also where I will begin posting my Project 365 images. When possible, I will write a little something about the image or why I took it or something. Hopefully it will be something that people will like to read, and starting this project again will help me remember that I can thank God I love what I do and that's why I want to do it. I want to take steps to keep making a business out of my passion from sucking the life out of it. By the way, I'm not going to cheat this time. 12:00 AM to 11:59:99 PM, one photo every 24 hours. It will take patience, endurance, responsibility and a bunch of other hard character building words, which is part of why I am doing it. I also think it will be fun.