365 Project update

At the beginning of 2014, I undertook a 365 photo project which would entail shooting at least one photograph every day for a year with the aim to improve my photography skills. As expected, I lost steam after about a month and fell behind on editing but kept shooting. I missed a day after about two months, and it all fell apart. Now I take photos only when I want to instead of forcing myself as a chore.

Uploading and editing are far too time-consuming with consideration to all the other hobbies I have. I rarely make it past two weeks of 30-day challenges, so I'm fairly proud of how long I stuck with the 365 challenge. I'm still taking a lot of pictures and enjoying it, even if I have a long list of events to edit.

I enjoy photography as a hobby and not having to worry about owing anyone perfection. I enjoy cell phone photos and selfies and learning to see my self and my world in new ways and capturing memories. Here are a few favorites from this year so far.

Cale the Juggler at Scarborough Faire

Cathartic smashing of a bathroom scale with a big rock

Johnny's Valentines Day Double Rainbow wedding

Me being silly

365 Project, Week 4

Recap: I decided to undertake, with little hope of completing, a 365 photo project to take a photo every day for a year with the purpose of improving my photography skills and more closely examining the world around me. I have made it through three whole weeks. See week one here, week two here, and week three here.

Day 22: work, work

Day 23: V-day rehearsal

Day 24: Bundled-up selfie

Day 25: Bake sale

Day 26: Shopping at Dallas School of Burlesque

Day 27: Allen municipal buildings' courtyard

365 Project, Week 3

I decided to undertake, with little hope of completing, a 365 photo project to take a photo every day for a year with the purpose of improving my photography skills and more closely examining the world around me. I have made it through three whole weeks. See week one here and week two here.

Day 15: A friend's kitten.

Day 16: V-day rehearsals — "Vagina motherfuckers!"

Day 17: TGIF

Day 18: Looks like a dance party

Day 19: Puppies were made for cold toes.

Day 20: A nice night run

Day 21: Smug sonofabitch

365 Project, Week 2

I decided to undertake, with little hope of completing, a 365 photo project to take a photo every day for a year with the purpose of improving my photography skills and more closely examining the world around me. I made it through two whole weeks. (Week one photos are here.)

Day 8: The dumb bells at the fitness center I visit at work.

Day 9: V-day rehearsals — "My momma probably wouldn't like me kissing girls either!"

Day 10: Zero motivation to go out and shoot anything, so I lucked out on my first frame of the household furbabies. This is Popsicle, rescued as a kitten when he curled up on our doorstep to die during a snowstorm.

Day 11: Paxil is in poor shape, and the puppy is pooped after our morning run.

Day 12: In the more than two years I've lived here, Crowley and I have never gotten along. But he curled up next to me for the duration of a movie while everyone else was out of the house. I was scared to move.

Day 13: Unedited floral arrangement from the first-floor restroom in my office building.

Day 14: Looking down the street just before sunrise.

365 Project, Week 1

I decided to undertake, with little hope of completing, a 365 photo project to take a photo every day for a year with the purpose of improving my photography skills and more closely examining the world around me. I made it through one whole week.

Day 1: A picture of my new camera

Day 2: A silly, sloppy snapshot of a cast member playing with a speculum

Day 3: A cell phone photo of the golden window reflections on concrete outside my office

Day 4: A silly portrait of my friends' 4-year-old son

Day 5: The reflections of a pub in a mirror in dim light

Day 6: A clock in the windowed hall of a bank building with a focus on chiaroscuro contrast

Day 7: I never see the water features running in the winter, but it is finally below freezing in Texas.

Salt Lake City Cemetery

Here are some photos from my trip to Salt Lake City. My folks have lived there about 15 years, so I've seen and done a lot of the usual touristy stuff before. My sis took me to visit the SLC Cemetery, which is enormous and very lovely in winter. She told me ghost stories about visiting with friends in the dead of night, finding an urn that is always warm even in winter, and a mysterious force that pushes people off the top of a particular crypt. We visited on a quiet, unremarkable day and saw nothing mysterious.

A lovely headstone with what looks to be Arabic and Hebrew writing on it. I've never seen anything quite like this before.

A stone monument that looked like an AT-AT from afar.

View of graveyard with mountains in the background.

A broken tombstone is balanced atop another.

So I might have recently watched Star Trek and have limited reverence for the dead.

Gilgal Sculpture Garden

I visited family in Salt Lake City, Utah, for Christmas, and at the recommendation of an acquaintance, my sister took me to visit the Gilgal Sculpture Garden, a park created by Thomas Battersby Child, Jr., in the mid-twentieth century. From Wikipedia: he "conceived of a symbolic sculpture garden that would be a retreat from the world and a tribute to his most cherished religious and personal beliefs."

It's a wacky little spot featuring "12 original sculptures and over 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems, and literary texts." It had snowed that week, and the fresh snow was pristine when we arrived. There were no signs telling us not to climb up on the rocks to take pictures, so we did.

(A phoenix with the face of LDS leader Joseph Smith)

(A close-up shot of Joe's great, hooked nose)

(Me with two sculpted hands framing two sculpted hearts in a rocky alcove)

(Me with a plow with swords and other farming implements welded to it)

(Me alongside an obelisk with a faintly visible wire man atop it)

(The stone back of one piece)

(Additional stonework I cannot identify)

So if you're looking for something odd to do in SLC for a half hour, check it out. It doesn't look like the place gets very much traffic.

Beloved Beginnings, Day 10

Step into the frame.

See the photos that didn't make it here on Instagram.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9

Beloved Beginnings, Day 9

Self care:

Going to bed as early as I please, even if it's 7:15 local.

There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is

enough to be taken care of by my self.

--Brian Andreas

See the photos that didn't make it here on Instagram.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8

Beloved Beginnings, Day 8

Something about yourself that you are grateful for:

My perseverance

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.

--A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

See the photos that didn't make it here on Instagram.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Beloved Beginnings, Day 7

"'Playfulness is an antidote to Fear' and I think its an antidote to frustration too, and to our inner critic!" I did not enjoy the playfulness theme as much as others. But looking back at what I shot, these are pretty fun after all.

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

-George Bernard Shaw

See the photos that didn't make it here on Instagram.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4
Day 5
Day 6