Monday, December 15, 2008

Project 365

Back in October, I finished Project 365 - I took a photo a day, for a year.

(I’ve uploaded all the photos to one location, but I don’t want to share the link on a public site, because the photos contain a lot of information about me, where I live, my clinical school, etc. If you’re my Facebook friend, you’ll see the link on my wall. If not (and if you know my name), send me a friend request! Or send me an email.)


1/365: St John's Anglican Church, Ashfield (on a sunny Sunday afternoon)

It was fun but also quite difficult at times. When I was stuck at home studying or working, it was hard to find new things to photograph. I forced myself to go for walks around the neighbourhood, which probably improved my concentration while studying. I was lucky to move house at the end of last year - my new housemate has a gorgeous dog (named Roy), who became my back-up photo subject.


162/365: Our scary guard dog


265/365: "I brought you my squeaky toy; I'm giving you my best pouty face - so why won't you play with me?"


303/365: Cute doggie paws


362/365: Roy on my lounge, where he's definitely not supposed to be

The hospital and surrounds provided plenty of photo opportunities - I even took some in the operating theatres. The university also came in handy too. And it seemed that I took a lot of photos of food and flowers...


189/365: Gorgeous (and delicious) mini cupcake from The Cupcake Room at Leichhardt


203/365: Gorgeous lilies from Orange Grove Organic Market

Some days I took several photos and chose the best one. Other days I took only one photo and hoped that it turned out OK. Many of the photos were planned - I’d seen something photo-worthy on a day where I’d already photographed something else, so I returned to that location on another day. Others were taken on the spur of the moment. Here’s a selection of my favourite photos:


111/365: Street art on a wall in Camperdown


166/365: Detail from my favourite mural in Camperdown
(You can probably work out what the text means - if not, see definition 1 here)



212/365: I watched this very cool insect climb all the way up the screen door


214/365: Windy Wednesday at Cronulla


231/365: Seagull at Sydney Fish Markets


279/365: Winter sunset from my lounge room, on a very rainy day


288/365: Werri Beach, near Gerringong


344/365: I told Mum I didn't want a birthday cake, because I'd had one at my party the night before. So instead I got a Tim Tam with a sparkler - perfect!

I even created my own (lame) LOL:


215/365: Emo USB cable...hates to plug and play

I only missed one day out of the entire 365. I was so cross with myself, considering (a) it occurred on day 349 - so close to the end; and (b) it was a day that had provided plenty of photo opportunities - I’d travelled from Sydney, through the Blue Mountains, to Mudgee. I took an additional photo the next morning to make up for it. (My excuse is that I’d received an SMS at lunchtime telling me that the Barrier results were out, which distracted me - although I didn't even get a chance to check my results until the next day!)

I nearly forgot a few other times - the most obvious example of this is the photo I took of Letterman on my TV at 11:55pm during the first week of the project:


5/365: Letterman - the perfect way to end a long day

I had a bit of camera trouble during the project. While on holiday in South Australia with my Mum at the beginning of this year, my camera died. Mum was only joining me for the weekend (I was staying for a couple of weeks on my John Flynn placement), so she gave me her camera. However, she hadn’t brought her battery along, so that camera died after one week of my placement. The remaining photos were taken with my camera phone. When I returned to Sydney, I was planning to send my camera off to be fixed, but unfortunately I knocked it onto the floor, smashing it, before I had a chance. So I had to buy a new camera - without the funds for a digital SLR, I bought another compact digital. Eventually, in September, I bought a digital SLR for myself (a birthday present from me to me) - I bought a used one from eBay to start with, and will upgrade in a couple of years.


102/365: My broken camera – the lens wouldn't close, and then I dropped it and really broke it


289/365: My new (used) digital SLR!

I went on a photography course in October to learn how to use my digital SLR properly. When I booked the course, I didn’t realise it was on the weekend that I was due to complete Project 365! Photos 364 and 365 were taken with my digital SLR. Perhaps I’ll do the project again someday, using my new wizz-bang camera.


365/365: Digital SLR + tripod + self-timer + two-day photography course produces this shot, a lovely way to end Project 365.

I must say a big thank you to Miss-G-, whose blog I got the idea from a while back. And I’m very pleased to hear that some of my friends have been inspired to start the project - I can’t wait to see all of your photos!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

very cool!
i shan't though due to commitment phobia...

Dragonfly said...

Hey, that sounds like an excellent procrastination idea. The dog is soo cute.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think it's such a good idea too. I want to jump on the bandwagon.

Anonymous said...

Oh Roy - my favourite not so little slobber dog. I will play with you buddy

Anonymous said...

Hi! i was under the impression that it had to be 365 self portraits, i see now that i was wrong. It can be whatever you want it to be? It looks like so much fun! :)