365 to 30: Day 1 & Day 2

Many people decide to do a photo a day starting at the first of the year.  It is a way to document your year and it's a great New Years resolution to discipline yourself to pick up your camera daily.  However, I usually end up forgetting to begin this project on January 1st and then decide it's not worth it if I cannot do it from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.  After deciding I would wait until NEXT year to do it, I had a thought.  My 29th birthday is (was) January 25th and this is my LAST year of being in my twenties.  It's a big deal to me! I remember going from a single digit age to a double digit age and then passing from a teenager to turning twenty. It's super exciting and a little sad at the same time.  Not sad because I'm getting older, but sad because I can never go back.  My twenties were great to me and I will always cherish the years and moments that led me to where I am now.  So, my idea was that I would use these 365 until my 30th birthday to take a photo a day.  It will be a huge act of discipline for me as it is hard to do anything consistently for more then a couple weeks.  But, I am REALLY going to try to do this.  It is important to me.

I am not afraid of getting old, I am afraid of not living and truly enjoying each moment given to me.  This project will hopefully allow me to take moments throughout my days to capture what is important, learn new techniques, and push myself.  By my 30th birthday, my gift to myself will be getting a book made of all the photos.  To me, that is huge inspiration!  I think of this as a project that I must do, kind of like Julie, in Julie & Julia, completing all of Julia Child's recipes in the Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

So, here I am, 2 days into 29, and I have already found myself waiting until the end of the day to pull my camera out.  I am trying not to be frustrated.  How many days does it take to form a habit?  I may need to write a reminder on my bathroom mirror. ha!

Before I keep writing a bunch of nothingness, let me share my Day 1 & Day 2 photos.  I promise not every photo will be of my dogs.  But, then again, this is my birthday project. :-)  I will also be using this time to practice techniques that I have not done in forever.  (For instance I tried a night shot this evening and then got poured on)

Day 1: January 25, 2012

This is Finnegan, our newest member of the family.  He is almost 4 months old.

Day 2: January 26, 2012

This is a perfect example of practicing different kinds of shoots.  The day had already slipped away from me, so I decided to try a night shot.  Nothing in my neighborhood is super great to look at, especially at night, so I just chose the front of our house looking out at the street.  I pulled the tripod out and just wanted to experiment with long exposures.  I would have possibly had a better and more creative shot had it not poured down rain on me a few minutes after I started.  So, this was what I got.  It was dark out, other than the lights from the soccer field.  This photo was a 6 second exposure at f4 at an ISO of 400.

Whether this project is viewed by others or not, I will be posting for myself and using it to document my journey.

2 days down, 363 to go.