Project 365

I started this blog on December 27th last year, and 405 posts later, here I am.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the photoblog format. It's been a fabulous creative outlet, helping me to notice things that would have passed unnoticed - and DID pass unnoticed until I started this project. Textures, light effects, cropped sections, subject matter -- thoughts such as these have become second nature. Even if I don't take the shot, I SEE the shot, and that in itself is satisfying. I notice Life more. I've LOVED being part of a community of bloggers with the same project in mind, and learning from them, and appreciating the work they've put into the project knowing from personal experience how much work it is. I have appreciated a venue existing that I can point people to and say ... this is my life. I have liked having a place to record my thoughts, and chronicle my events, yet without the pressure to write a "real" blog post. The pressure to have a picture a day was sometimes burdensome, but not so much as I thought it might be. I have loved commenting, and my pics being commented upon -- it's so rewarding. I have appreciated the fact that my library of photos has given me fodder for my art projects, and has stimulated my thinking in other creative avenues.

The downsides: I lost my camera, and I really feel like that event took the wind out of my blogging sails. From that date on I borrowed Grayson's camera, used my cellphone, and finally bought a replacement camera that I never did bond with. (I gave it to Clark for part of his Christmas yesterday.) So now I'm back to borrowing Grayson's. Besides losing the camera, when I started to school in the fall and had to produce so much artwork, I found that my creative juices were diverted, and there was little left for the 365 project. For those reasons I feel like my best work happened earlier in the year, and I haven't been as satisfied with the last half of the year's photos. In December, I've almost abandoned the project, at least compared to the level of involvement I had the other 11 months. So maybe it is time for the project to end. Part of me is more than ready for that to happen, and part of me regrets calling anything of such personal importance and value to me "over". I regret that few of my "in real life" friends and family visited the site... some commented to me that they saw something on my blog, but by in large the blog didn't make the jump to "real life" I had hoped for.

In two weeks I'll be starting back to school. I'm taking photography, ironically. But it will be b/w film photography, not digital. And rather than producing drawings, I'll be producing old-fashioned prints in the darkroom. I imagine I'll have little time for digital, and with Grayson returning January 25th from boot camp, and then leaving to start his life, I will no longer have a digital camera. I will probably eventually buy another digital, just to have for recording life, but for the next few months, I'm sure I'll be consumed with film photography. So ... realistically, my project 365 days are waning, as is my creative energy for the project. However, I don't want to just stop, and fall off the planet (or at least the cyberplanet). I hope I can continue occasionally to contribute, just without the daily commitment. I hope you'll keep me on your Google Reader feed, as I will keep you all on mine. :-)

I could go back and look at all the posts and pick out my faves, and talk about the special memories, but I'm not too big on nostalgia. I'll just say this: Thank you for a fabulous experience together.