I have started to address my photo-a-day blog so many times…only to write a book about my experience as a photographer, and what I have learned… so I keep postponing the sharing, because there’s still so much more to write and share! But before it’s way too late, here is the short story…
Clearly I haven’t posted any photos for many months, and decided to stop the project. So for those of you who were so lovingly following it every day, I am sorry for stopping the goodness, and thank you for being so supportive for the half-year that I posted daily! But the wonderful thing is that as much as the goal was one year, I learned so much about myself as a photographer in the time I did the project…and have had some really huge shifts in my focus and goals as a photographer. I may not have completed the photo-a-day project in the way it was intended for 365 days of posting, but I have accomplished something bigger, and that is getting clear on why I am a photographer in the first place, what it is I love to photograph, how I like to photograph, and how I like to share, inspire and be inspired…
I believe that was the original goal, really, to push myself to take a photo every single day for a year, in order to learn more about myself as a photographer, whatever that may be. One very relevant element of my learning was that I do not want to create from a place of obligation, which is how the project started to feel towards 150+ days, especially when I had life situations come up. The photo-a-day became something on my to do list, and often was left to the end of the day. I realized that I want my images to have more time and space around them, more intention, less immediacy, more thoughtfulness, less forced. I also felt that my images were swimming in the pool of all of the other images on the internet…so many images, everywhere floating around, every second, more images, all day, constantly. Everyone has a camera and everyone is a photographer today. I realized that I would like to slow down, take more time and intention to create, and focus on making more powerful images as opposed to MORE images. I also realized how fun it is to capture everyday moments…they can often times be the most beautiful, so I will definitely keep doing this, and sharing when I feel there is something beautiful and wonderful to share…
I am in the process of re-doing my website, among bigger photography goals, and will share my favorites from the photo-a-day project all in one place. Until then…thank you for reading and following while it lasted! I am super grateful.
