how did you choose your [365] theme?

[earthboundmisfit,i]

How did you come up with a 365 topic or theme? Did you have one in mind (or not) and it evolved? Was your idea a subject, or technique? Were you inspired by someone else's ideas or work? Do you feel like you need/ed a topic or do/did you just go for it and shoot something, anything every day?

Why did you decide to do a project like this, because you already had a theme and wanted to develop it? to see how your creative eye develops? or ...?

I'm trying to resolve a plan for mine and having a lot of difficulty. I should be shooting every day anyway without any plan or project, especially as I'm notoriously poor at sticking to things but I've barely shot in weeks even though I carry my camera at all times

I've been searching for discussion out there on this but I haven't really found anything useful. I am starting to keep a record of photos I find inspiring, and I'm working my way through everything on this site -especially this section at the moment.

What I know so far is I want a 'straight out of the camera' project. Not because I'll never use photoshop again but because I think so far I over-process and as a noob I'm still a bit too reliant on 'I'll fix it later' even when I don't mean to think that way. I want to focus more on learning various technique/s as I go rather than some particular subject, though it would be nice to have a coherent theme as well

Sorry, long post. But how did you arrive at your topic, if you had one?

[Nicole]

I can't tell you how I came up with a theme since I don't have one, but, I can tell you why I don't have one. It's because (similar to you), I hadn't shot nearly enough, and I was well aware of the fact that if I limited myself to a theme I know I wouldn't have lasted a week because I would've found some reason or another to not find something that fit the theme or give up because I couldn't find anything that fit the theme.

So instead I just shoot whatever, and the important part to me is getting a photo done. That's not to say that there aren't a good number of days where I put effort into the photo and really work to get something. But there are also days where I'm perfectly happy to take a snap with the iPhone and post that up as the photo of the day.

I have on occasion done theme weeks (that might be a once so far I did a theme week). I had thought of doing a theme month, and then I missed getting the right type of shot once and totally bailed on that and went back to "anything".

I started the project because I hadn't been taking very many shots and I felt like photography was really falling by the wayside. Of course, by the end of the year I might not want to pick up a camera for months. I don't think I'll start another 365 right away. But I also wanted to see if my skill could develop through more constant shooting, and that is something I have seen. So even without a theme you will likely see your skills develop.

I think you have to be really, really, really dedicated to shoot a single theme for a year. By the time you hit a certain point in the project you might find that you barely have the motivation to shoot anything. And I think that if I'd had a theme those are the times I would've bailed. On the nights where its' 11:50pm and I'm sitting there, going: I don't want to take a photo, I should just quit the stupid project. That said, I haven't quit yet.

Not quite what you're asking, but that's my experience on it so far.