I have long been intrigued by the idea of Project 365. The general idea is to take a photograph each day for a year and post them online. There are quite a few tangible benefits of the project, including a very vibrant online community of people also participating who can be very supportive.
Last month, I thought I would ignore my fear of failure and give it a try. I’m only up to day 20, but I am already finding the project is generating a lot of thought for me. Some of my experiences have been typical of those who take on the project, and some have been quite surprising.
I assumed that the project would get me out there more, taking more photographs. What I didn’t realise was that it would actually cause me to take fewer photographs. I’ve become wary of ‘using up’ too many good photography ideas in one session. Since the idea is to take the photograph daily, if I have a good idea for tomorrow’s photograph then for it to count I need to take it tomorrow. This causes me to be miserly with inspiration out of fear that I’ll need those ideas later when I’m struggling to come up with something interesting to shoot that day.
Before taking on this project, I would only upload my best images. I use Flickr as an online portfolio, a place to display art photography and invite criticism to learn from. Since starting Project 365, I have felt that the standard of images I am posting has dropped. Some people seem to be able to produce a half dozen excellent photographs a day but I have never learned that skill. If it were not for the feeling of pressure to upload something, anything, many of the Project 365 images would not have made the grade.
Of course, it goes without saying that taking a photograph every day can feel like a bit of a drag at times. Some evenings I just want to go to bed with a book and I start to feel absurdly resentful of the entire idea.
That isn’t to say that the entire experience has been negative. The one sublime gain of taking on this project is that I am now back to seeing everything around me with a photographer’s eye. It has brought back the feeling of moving through a hidden world of glory that I can translate for others through the use of my lens.
This is how I felt when I first started taking photography seriously. Somewhere along the way I lost that passion and vision as I instead amassed gear that I thought could replace it.
I’m very thankful to Project 365 that it has helped me bring those feelings back. Still, I feel the negatives are enough for me to take my lessons learned and call it a day. I’m going to continue to carry my camera and to consciously cultivate seeing the world with wonder but I am now going to remove the pressure to perform whether I feel like it or not.
I am now content to fail.
