2010 Project 365: A Reflection

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for completing this project. It wasn't always easy and I oftentimes would be headed to bed when I'd remember I hadn't taken a photo yet. Turns out that creativity can be hard to come by when all I really want to do is go to bed! The best part about this project was how it improved my photography. Practicing every day really has its benefits! Not only did I improve on the technical aspects I also had the chance to explore composition and all the basic design principles I've had pounded into my head in my zillions of art classes I've taken in my lifetime. I think I've gotten better at post processing my photos and I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now.

Through this exercise it became pretty apparent to me that I really enjoy photographing details and LOVE capturing sunshine. If only I lived somewhere the sun shines more then three months a year!

I thought it'd be fun to take a look back at some of my favorite photos over the year. I'll try and post my favorite for each month. Which ones are your favorites? I'd love to know!

The shoes. This is still my wallpaper on my big beautiful monitor. I love the perspective and how you can tell our personalities just from this view. My pink girly girl in the middle, my rough and tumble boy with patches on his jeans, and my no nonsense and goes with everything brown converse.

I love how the focus is on the piece of sidewalk chalk and not on Ethan. It tells the story.

Ah the pears. They just make me happy. I think it's the green, or the jaunty way the middle pear is leaning. All I know is that I love it!

Isn't it interesting how it can rain AND by sunny at the same time? Quite the phenomena. I'm glad I got suitably soaked for this shot!

Oh the drama! The moody black and white, the songstress, and piano. So different from my usual repertoire but it was oh so fun!

I can't explain what it is about this photo of Grace that I love so much. It could be the cookie crumbs, or the typical Gracie expression. I suspect a combination of the two and the abundance of sunlight makes me keep wanting to stare at it!

This photo totally reminds me of summer when my kids bring me vast amount of wild daisies while I lounge in the shade and yell at them to stay away from the poison oak. I think I miss summer!

I adore this photo of Grace. I have a zillion photos of Ethan that I love because he's easy to photograph and smiles easily for the camera. Getting Grace to smile for the camera takes a lot of effort so getting a candid like this one in our backyard totally makes me ecstatic! This is the last photo I took of her before her eye surgery so it stirs up a lot of emotion. In fact just writing this is making me tear up!

Man September was a tough call. I chose this one as my favorite because I adore the colors. The ones of my husband and his cousins after Opa's funeral is a very close second.

October isn't any easier to pick from! I guess fall is my sweet spot. I love the bright colors in this one as well and the detail I was able to get on the spider web. Do you know how hard it is to focus on one of these things? Pretty dang difficult! Also loved Ethan as a hamburger and my favorite from his 3 year old portrait session.

This one may be my favorite from the entire year. In fact it's been printed on a 16x24 canvas and is hanging in my living room because I love it so much! I'm pretty sure most moms would understand my love for a photo of my children wearing clean matching clothes, looking at the camera at the same time, showing physical affection, and to top it all off are smiling. Yes I'm in love with this photo because I love my kids! The colors and beautiful sunlight are pretty nice too :) And while pretty purple flowers don't compare to my love of my children, this photo speaks to me too.

The photo from Christmas Eve is my favorite from December. Everything about it is beautiful to me. The fantastic colors, the tree light bokeh, the sparkly glasses. It's all good.

As for the question of what I'm going to do now you'll be happy to know that I'm not giving up the idea of a year long project entirely. I'm too burnt out to do another Project 365, so instead I'm going to give a Project 52 a try this year. I figure one photo a week should be no big deal after a photo a day all year last year! I'll probably continue to use this blog for sake of continuity. Look for the first week's photo soon!