With 2012 right around the corner, I’ve been debating whether or not I’m going to participate in Project 365 or Project 52 (or some other variation of them). In case you’re not familiar with these projects, the involve taking a photo a day (or week) for a year.
Sadly, I’m a Project 365 dropout… well, scratch that, I’m a MULTIPLE time dropout. I always have such good intentions, but somehow life always gets all wonky and I miss a day, then 3, and I inevitably give up.
It made me wonder… is there ANOTHER way to take on these projects in a different way that might either keep me on task or keep my attention longer.
Here are some ideas I stumbled upon:
365 breakfasts | onebreakfastaday
365 days of color | throughmyeyescolor
365 strangers | richardradstoneblog
365 drawings | thecreativepanic
You can also find more interesting ideas at Make Something 365. Or come up with some other off beat ones.. what about 365 shoes or socks, 365 self-portraits, 365 belly lint arts (maybe..not…).
Here are some more handy links for those looking to participate in Project 365 or Project 52:
- project 365
- project 365 Flickr group
- 52 photos project
- project 52 with My 4 Hens
- project 52 with mcp actions
- new52
Are you planning on taking on either of these challenges or have another challenge lined up????
14 Responses to Project 365 or Bust
I am also a MULTIPLE drop out of 365! I LOVE taking photos…until I HAVE too…then 10,000 other things happen! I am REALLY going to try to ease myself in this year…maybe I shouldn’t start SOOO big. I think I will look into the 52…best of luck to you!
I want to just keep up with my Project life this year and take pics when possible!!! I too am a MULTIPLE p365 dropout :/
I have decided that I will attempt to do something between P52 and P365. I will not get frustrated with myself if I miss a day or two or five or fifty-five. I will continue to have the goal of doing something each day, but if it comes down to just doing it when I can, I will be thankful at the end of the year if I get have even a portion of that goal accomplished. I figure that something is better than nothing.
I am a big proponent of learning something new every day. I figure that even if I don’t document it, I really do my best to at least learn *something*. Putting it to use later or documenting it is always the icing on the cake, but I’ve decided to quit beating myself up for not living up to an amazingly high and exacting standard. I mean, seriously, documenting every day? It amazes me that there are people who can do it, but I don’t think the majority of us can. Life is messy and rich and there isn’t always time for squeezing it onto a perfect page. Sometimes the memory is the only thing we have, and sometimes that is just enough.
Can’t be told better. I’m trying to stop measuring myself against those standards I know I can’t achieve and then feeling a failure. The memory is the key, it’s the real humus of a page.
I LOVE the idea of taking your pictures (daily or otherwise) and capturing something specific but more open-ended than actual events or activities. The 365 days of color is so tempting and is really something I could likely stick to. Such fantastic inspiration!
I did it in 2010, but then dropped out in 2011. I’m going to do it again in 2012, if I can find just the right idea for the pages.
One tip I do have… I took a bunch of pictures of random things for those days I “missed”. Like what town square looked like at Christmas time. Or my favorite bakery. Favorite shoes. Etc. Those are things that I figure my great grandkids will enjoy seeing once the town/styles looks totally different, and in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter if I took the picture on December 22nd or December 27th? I took a “if my grandmother had done this project, what would I like to see in this book?” approach, and it served me well.
Oh, Angie, I love the idea of ‘if my grandmother had done this project…”
I did P365 for 2011 and have loved it. Of course, there were weeks that about ‘broke’ me, but for the most part I have kept up. Also, I didn’t stress if I didn’t have a picture for a certain day, I would supplement sometimes with pictures of random things that meant something to us or would have an idea for what picture I wanted for that day and just take it later.
Having a good template plan is CRUCIAL to me though!
I’ve been tempted to do project 365 but I know myself - if I say I have to do something every single day, I’ll find an excuse not to on about day 3! Last year I did a (non creative) 30 day challenge, so I think I’ll either try doing a photo a week, or assigning myself 30-day photo challenges a few times during the year, rather than set myself up to fail bigtime at something that is every day for the entire year.
I did it for 2011 (well, 3 more pictures to take , and will def do it for 2012. I admit to being disciplined, but just also love pictures! I have printed all the pictures I took and have them in an album, and also scrapped many of them, inluding 50 weekly layouts done so far. But as I said, i am disciplined. What motivates me is how much I love reviewing these photos, and the thought that my daughter and her children will know so much about me and my world (and theirs).
I think my plan for this year is clean and simple templates that I can adjust depending on how many pictures I have each week. 1 page per week, 5-10 pictures. I’m not going to get as hung up on “one photo per day”. Some days I might have 3, other days I might not have any. I’ll still stick the random “special things” ones in here and there, but mostly I’m just going to try to have a page per week with whatever photos I DO have.
Another helpful tip - if you make your page at the beginning of the week so that all you have to do is plug the pictures in, it makes it way easier to keep up. Also, don’t get too far behind on the layouts or it’s too tempting to quit. I made sure I was never more than a week behind. I did it 2 weeks at a time with the same kit, almost like a 2 pager, so that when the book lays open, the pages facing each other coordinate. That helped, too, because I could do 2 pages at once.
I apparently have lots to say about this. LOL
Ughhh at least I’m not the only repeat offender…December Daily was my best try yet and I managed to do eight pages (laughs). I had decided however to take part in M4H project 52…a photo a week seems a lot more manageable but we’ll see I guess…
I’ve tried a 365 project several times and just haven’t been able to pull it off! I actually did complete a week in the life this year which was a miracle. i’m doing my own sort of take on a 365 project with project life this year … but its more flexible.
Wow…so glad my blog could give you some inspiration! My color project has really been fun. I won’t lie, there are definitely days it gets challenging, but I chose my theme because i can always find a color somewhere.
I hope you do try again!
Another 365 dropout here. I’ve actually been thinking about this and I think I’ve worked out what my problem was. I tried to achieve 2 different things with the same project. I wanted to document life *and* take pretty pictures to improve my photography. Which meant that I was trying to take pretty pictures of everyday life, and that narrows the options a lot! I made it through to mid-Feb last year before starting to really run out of ideas. I think what I’m going to do is take the photographs for photography’s sake pictures, and then some of them may end up in my project life along with the less than stellar, but meaningful ones