Thinking about doing the "pic a day" next year

[jnelson]

So, Im thinking about my New Years resolution and along with, dieting, saving more money, cursing less, and all the others that seem to inevitable fail, im thinking of trying to take one picture a day for the next year. I want to do this because I feel like it will really help me improve my skills. I understand that this can be really difficult, so my question is basically this: for those who have done it, how was is? What are the challenges? Would you recommend that others do it? Also, I know there are some variations of it, with 365 self portraits or just 365 random pics. I dont want to do portraits, but i also dont want to just take a random snap of anything, id like to have a well composed image that somewhat pushes the limits of my normal shots. Thoughts?

[BabetteKD]

I reccomend it. It makes you think more about your surroundings and forces you to be creative. I've seen some people do this as a journal and some just as a hobby. Both are interesting ways of doing this.

Some flickr groups help with the 365 by assigning weekly themes. I know that there is a group with DPS members who use the weekly assignments as their themes. (365 - DPS Assignment).

[Big Nick]

Why not do both, do it as a sort of journal. Find something that reflects your mood, maybe take a point and shoot with you everywhere you go just in case you see something that your into and don't want to get your SLR that day

[iffles]

I've attempted both - a 366 Self Portraits (done in 2008 - a leap year!), which I completed and a 365 of whatever I wanted this year, which I didn't complete.

The 366 project really helped me improve as a photographer and I'm so glad that I did it.

The 365 project failed for me because I think I just took too much on this year, so I wasn't able to devote the time to it that I should have, so my photos were turning into because-I-have-to photos instead of because-I'm-inspired photos.

If you're worried about coming up with ideas for each day, there are TONS of groups on flickr to help give you inspiration. My person favorites are:

Theme of the Week - pretty self-explanatory - they announce a new theme each week for you to take photos of.
Musically Challenged - They post 10 songs each week for you to use as inspiration.
Flickr Group Roulette - They pick a different flickr group each day to "invade".

In addition, there are a number of 365 groups, and ones specifically for 2010 will start popping up (in fact, they probably already have), and usually these groups of mini-challenges or other things to help keep you inspired.

I think you'll really enjoy doing it - Good luck!

My 365 failed for 2 reasons.

1. Too much time. A lot of my photos take a good chunk of time...some take hours of preparation. At the end, I got burned-out and ran out of inspiration.

2. Too much pressure to create something great every day. I few of my shots got me a little Flickr fame and a lot of contacts...I didn't want to screw that up by dumping a bunch of cat photos on my account.

I've backed off to about 1 planned photo shoot a week. I think a well-thought-out photo a week is a good goal, unless you have a lot of time on your hands and can do it every day.

[jnelson]

Originally Posted by rt80639

2. Too much pressure to create something great every day.

I could see that being a problem for myself. I know as soon as I get one good image that elicits a few "oohs" and "awes" from people (which is fairly rare), I feel like that is my new benchmark and anything less is trash. My hope was that this challenge would help me get through that.

[hibou]

I did the 366 of selfies (successfully!) in 2008. It was really hard, but I certainly did learn a lot.

I'm currently a little over half-way through a non-selfie 365 and kind of wish I weren't. So much filler, rare killer, and no glory in completing it. The self-portrait one is totally more of an event (and a better community on flickr).

Anyway I'm still glad I did it. Worst that can happen is you don't finish, and really that files under BFD so why not?

[Agata]

Sounds like a great idea (your New Years resolutions sound an awful lot like mine ... :-P)

I considered doing the 365 project and maybe this year I will finally stick to it. I don't think I just want portraits but maybe as long as a part of me is in the photo it'll make the project more interesting ... we'll see!

Good luck with your project!

[dawnwithacamera]

I am thinking about it too. Try to do it a few time this year after I got my XSi in January. I came up with a lot of excuses when I didn't pick up the camera: "I go to work in the dark, I come home in the dark. I have enough shots of my cats and dog. My husband won't model. My kids won't model. I don't have anything to shoot. I live in a boring little town. I don't have a park to shoot at, I don't have a zoo to shoot at." Even right now, my idea of 30 days of meals got shot down after 11 days. I will definately been checking Flickr for more inspiration.

Dawn P in Michigan
Canon XSi, 50mm 1.8, 60mm macro, 18-55mm kit, 75-300mm and Speedlight 580EXII.

[BEGM83]

i want to do this but do a daily shot of the same thing - a local scene - and how it changes through the year, but not sure if its worth the time to do it?