I Gave Up On My Photo 365 Last Year & Why That Is A Goood Thing. 2016 Is a New Project

Last year, 2015, I started a 365 Photo Project.  I had done one before in 2012 and enjoyed it quite a bit at the time.  I did it for the same reasons a lot of people do:

• To use my camera more
• To try more things
• To improve through practise
• To start and finish a project

I think I did achieve all of those goals.   It actually felt odd at the beginning of 2013 to not have to take a photo every day.  I still did do this most of the time, I was in the habit of doing it. 

When 2014 was coming around I thought about doing some sort of project again.  I debated doing a 52 Week Project  but planned got bogged down with Christmas and other events.  There was also another factor, my nature and personality.  I tend to "go all in" on things and if there is any lull or downtime I often lose interested.  I knew I would have a harder time doing something weekly rather than daily. 

All of a sudden 2015 was looming.  I really wanted to do some sort of project again.  So I went with a Photo 365.  I actually really started using my blog for it as well.  This was good, I was doing something and even something extra (the blog). 

So I thought. 

I started to dread it.  If I did not have the chance to get a photo early in the day I would get grumpy about it.  I then had too many photos that were rushed at night.  I had too many "I still have to take a photo" moments while getting ready for bed.  As a result I became less and less pleased with my work.  I was not enjoying it and I was not producing good work.

I stopped.   I came to the realization that it was not worth it. 

The rest of 2015 was just like any other year, photographically, after that point. 

Late in 2015 I thought about projects again.  I began to toy with the idea of a 52 Week Photo Project. I always liked the idea, I could do more elaborate set ups, learn new things, and grow more as a photographer than a daily project would allow me.  I had looked up a few lists of what some others had done to see what sort of things they had done.

Then 2016 was actually here.  I still wanted to do the 52 Week Project but had not formalized anything yet.  I had mentioned to my camera club President that I was going to do this.  In another discussion she suggested that we get club members involved.   This was on a Wednesday in Week 1 of the year. 

I agreed to write out the project list and to coordinate the project with members of the club.  I decided that Week 1 would be a self portrait (I did threaten to have memberships revoked is anyone called it a "selfie") as that should not take long and we were running out of time for that week.  I posted the project on our Flickr group and then the email was sent out to all the members. 

In the first week there were 5 of us participate.  That is not bad for Saturday notice!  We have made this an open project for club members, join when you want, do not worry if you miss a week, and leave it when you want.