Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A photo a day. . .


A new year usually starts with an irresistable urge to start a project. Often my choice is to keep a diary, but apart from one notable year in which I filled most of the book, my enthusiasm soon peters out and at the end of December most of the pages remain blank.

For the last two years I chose a word for the year. This was more successful than a diary and helped define my year. My one word for 2013 was treasure, and it reminded me to treasure God's love, my family, friends, nature and many other things. However this choice didn't capture any of my memories.

Two days into 2014 I discovered 365Project. The challenge on this free website is to take and upload a photo every day for 365 days. This creates an online photo journal which documents your life in pictures for a year. Now this a very doable project for me as the site is user-friendly and  I can shoot a picture with my cell phone and upload it immediately without taking my camera out of its case or switching on my computer. But you can also upload photos and videos from your computer if you so wish, or even email them to 365Project. Photos can be uploaded after the date if necessary as it's not always possible or convenient to upload every day.

I decided to take the challenge and signed up. Here are two of my photos. They are not good photographically-speaking, but they are important to me as they bring back bittersweet moments from our holiday after Christmas.

Quiet time and sunrise at Paradise Beach

Sea view on the way to Paradise Beach

I soon discovered other benefits on 365Project including a wealth of fascinating photos on a wide variety of subjects from all over the world to browse. I intend following some of the photographers whose work appeals to me.

And if you want to take your photography to a higher level, there are forums with great articles and tutorials to help you do this.

So now I have my project for 2014.

Please leave a comment if you have a new project for the year. And if you take a look at 365Project, I'd love to read about your reaction.

May God bless you in 2014

13 comments:

  1. I love this idea, Ruth! I love taking photos and had thought about doing some sort of photo blog, but this looks even better. We have some internet issues, so I know there would be times when I can't upload, but still, I think I might give this a try. Plus I'd love to learn from other photographers! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Lisa, let me know if you sign up so that I can follow you. Remember you can always upload your daily photo at a later date if your internet is down.

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  2. Ah, another Pink Skies picture :) and what a fabulous idea! Thanks for alerting us to 365Project, Ruth. I'm definitely going to have a look at this and sign up.

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    1. Yip I also think it's a fabulous idea. Let me know when you sign up so I can follow you.

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  3. Thanks for sharing this, Ruth. What a fun idea. I've signed up (SAShirl). I'm trying to find my way around the site. I tried to find you without success. See if you can find me first!

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  4. Ruth, what a fun project :) I have a photographer friend who is doing this, and I love seeing her daily photo on Facebook. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pics with us.

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  5. Since I have been wanting to do more with photos, I've just signed up. I'm lisaharris. Looking now for you all!

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  6. Love your beach and sunrise photos too Ruth. have fun with the project.

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  7. What an amazing idea!!! That'll be a hard one though, every single day? Dude. I don't think I could do that... although it's very tempting!! Also? I think I'm moving to your beach...

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  8. Many thanks for all the comments. Shirl and Lisa I've tried to find you on 365Project but no success!

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  9. Here I am: http://365project.org/sashirl/profile. Found Lisa but not you.

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  10. Looks like a really fun thing to do Ruth! Would it work if I only have a Nokia C3? I am not much of a photographer but I like the thought behind it very much.

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  11. Sue, you can use any camera, so go ahead and have fun!

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