My year of a picture a day is drawing to a close soon. It has been a very hard year for me personally and looking back at my year in photos is fascinating. I’m so glad that I did this project. I didn’t get one every single day (you can see the missed days in my 2009 archive) but I accomplished my main goal of documenting more of the events and people in my life, as well as just capturing what daily existence has been. I’m fine with the days that I missed and happy with the days I have captured. I have also marginally improved my photography, but more than anything I have discovered the joy of the snapshot, regardless of quality. As this horrid year winds down and the days grow shorter and darker, I’ve decided to finish the project, inspired by another Flickr group, by making December a month of gratitude. Every day will be a photo and reflection on something I am grateful for. I’m sure there will be days that I really don’t want to do it, or can’t find anything that inspires me, but I think that pressing myself to reach for gratitude is a much needed exercise for me, particularly right now. I want to end the year with my head up and walk into 2010 with hope rather than fear.
As for next year and my photo project, I intend to keep on going, although I won’t join a Flickr group this time. I enjoyed being part of the pool and in the beginning it helped me immensely but I found after the first month or so that I wasn’t really participating beyond adding my daily pics. Groups are great, but not something I really seem to use at this point. For a twist on my regular picture a day, this year I’m going to focus on food (drink included). I love food and miss cooking. I’m hoping that focusing my photos on food, I’ll pay attention to and appreciate what I consume more. I really hope that it inspires me to cook more as well. It has been a while since I’ve spent much time on tactile hobbies. My senses of smell, taste and touch are in much need of attention. I used to cook and garden all the time, but that all seemed to fall away as I became consumed by technology and my online life. So, expect a lot of food in 2010 in addition to the continuing parade of random travel, daily life and nature shots.
RockTreeSky 