A 365 project - Reason I Pick Up My Camera Daily

What is a 365 project you ask? Simply put it is something that happens every day for 365 days. For obvious reasons my 365 project is photography based. I am in the midst of my third year of daily photography.

Interested in starting you own 365 project? I created a free guide to help you get started and stay motivated. Grab it HERE.

The things I love about committing to a daily shooting practice…

~ Number one: Documenting the un-extraordinary and the mundane.

So often the moments that we think of taking a photo are the big moments in our lives, the birthdays or the celebrations. Those are amazing photos to have, for sure, but if 2020 taught us anything life is not always a party. I love that I take my camera with me to Target or out on a walk to get my daily photo. A photograph can transport us right back to a moment that we otherwise might forget. I can remember the day I took the image below, not because the day was exciting or something big was happening, but because I see the image and I remember how my daughter was delighting in her first comic book still wearing her Christmas pajama set in late February. She won’t always wear fun matching pajamas or want to hang with mom reading comic books. I treasure this photo now and it will always remind me of a beautiful relaxed morning with my 6 year old.

The need for a daily photograph also makes me get in the frame, both by myself and with my daughter, more than I would. I want my daughter to have images of me from this time in our lives.

~Number two: Practice

What is that book? It takes 10,000 hours to be an expert… Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. Picking up my camera everyday doesn’t yield masterpieces every time, but I do learn something every time I pick up my camera. I can’t always wait for the perfect light or the just right moment, so I have learned how far I can push my camera. Photographing at high noon with no shade or in artificial lamplight is not for the faint of heart or even anytime I would suggest for a client, but events happen at all times of the day and because of my 365 project I am confident that I can produce images in any setting.

~Number three: Play

This could fall under practice, but play sounds so much more fun, am I right?

I have used my daily shooting practice to give myself permission to produce bad images. What?!? Sounds crazy right? But we can’t get good at something until we attempt it and my experience is that the first time I try something I’m not very good at it. It happens for some people, but I am not that.

My 365 has been the place I have played with freelensing (taking a lens away from the camera and taking an image), & double exposure, both in camera and in Photoshop (I also had to learn how to use Photoshop, another new skill). I have used new tools… a copper pipe, a prism, and a plastic bag or saran wrap to create interesting effects to the images. I wouldn’t feel comfortable pulling out a new tool and trying it out at a wedding, but because I have given myself permission to not have to be good at it for my 365 I am excited to play to learn and now be able to use those tools to create more interesting, creative images during sessions and events.

Some questions I get about a 365 project…

Do I need to be a photographer? The answer is NO! You can do anything as a 365. 365 days of walking a mile. 365 sunsets seen. 365 quotes. It can be anything you want it to be.
What happens if I miss a day? Keep going. Your project means that it is your rules. Sometimes I take 5 different photos in a day and use those when I miss a day. I have found that this works for me and allows me to complete the project, rather than get stuck in the perfection of it.
If I take 365 images in a year what do I do with them? PRINT THEM. I make a book for each year for our family and most of the images in that book come from my 365. I printed some of the images I took last year very large to hang in our house. Print individual prints and but them something that you or your kids can rifle through at any moment. Find a way to get them out of the digital realm and into the physical.

Don’t forget to get your 365 Guide HERE.

If you are posting your images on social media, I’d love for you to TAG ME so I can cheer you on!