Picture Day Project 365 – 2011; Mission Accomplished.

It’s a wrap. 22 Posts later.

Picture Day Project 365 – 2011 is complete.

Will I attempt Project 365 in 2012? Has it been a huge time suck and a royal pain in the booty?

Nope, sick exactly the opposite.  It’ been a creative, imaginative, and enjoyable endeavor. From what I can see on Instagram, a whole bunch of folks have jumped on the 365 band wagon. If you have the app, just hashtag #my365 to see the wave of activity. Heck, there is now an iPhone app to aid in organizing your 365 daily pics. By no coincidence, the app is called my365.

For me, this year marks a tremendous growth behind the lens, both fancy and pocket. For a little history, DH, in 1994, gave me my first big girl camera. “Capture the world how you see it”, were his words.   In our tiny newlywed townhouse, we had a wall of my framed photographs.  I found one of those photos the other day.  It tickles me to think this was the VERY first photo {SOOC – Straight out of Camera} clicked in 1994, using a Canon Rebel film camera with detachable lens. It was Christmas morning.

Not too bad, good depth of field without knowing it. This daisy bush in my parents yard simply translated an intensity of white and yellow I wished to share. I crouched down to find an angle that would fill the frame and clicked. The settings; shutter speed, aperture, exposure, and ISO – I had no idea what they meant OR what all those knobs and switches did. It was set to automatic since I was clueless.

Being clueless lit a fire. Lets figure this bad boy out.  What do all these do-hickeys-do?

Understanding Exposure, 1st Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera by Bryan Peterson, was the first book.

The book explained the relationship between aperture and shutter speed with everything in between. A favorite, the sunny 16 rule: a great pic comes on a sunny day by using an aperture of f/16 and the shutter speed closest to the ISO speed. For example, set your camera to ISO 200, an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/200.  I could do this, the do-hickeys began to make sense.

Then I had babies, three of them.  Being overwhelmed, the fancy camera went into hibernation. A quick point and shoot was my tool. Gone from my mind was composition, balance, depth of field and leading lines. Fried as a new mom, I was.

Fast forward, three children later to 2009, Christmas had come once again. A friend and I, over brunch, began swapping stories about photography. The lights went on. I returned home inspired and broke out my big girl camera. It was now digital, with many more new things to figure out. It was going to take a strong effort to pick-up where I left off.

I was rusty. Really rusty.

Proof.

Yeah…… no bueno.

Composition: D– F

Lighting: C

Exposure: B-

White Balance: B

Focal Point: C-

Focal Distance: F

Creativity : D-

Very few folks have seen my “rusty” period stuff.  It’s embarrassing. I blew out good shots by playing with aperture and composition was flat, think dismal.

What changed?

This book helped me pull it all back together,  The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby.  As fate would have it, the book was a gift from that same certain friend mentioned above, who HAD seen my rusty pics. She was encouraging me to pursue photography further. She believed in what DH had been trying to tell me all along.

For a glimpse at the book. It is organized into eleven chapters, plus an index. Check it out, the chapter titles are as follows:

Chapter One:Pro Tips For Getting Really Sharp Photos
Chapter Two: Shooting Flowers Like a Pro
Chapter Three: Shooting Weddings Like a Pro
Chapter Four: Shooting Landscapes Like a Pro
Chapter Five: Shooting Sports Like a Pro
Chapter Six: Shooting People Like A Pro
Chapter Seven: Avoiding Problems Like a Pro
Chapter Eight: Taking Advantage of Digital Like a Pro
Chapter Nine: Taking Travel & City Life Shots Like a Pro
Chapter Ten: How to Print Like a Pro and Other Cool Stuff
Chapter Eleven: Photo Recipes to Help You Get “The Shot” (shows a number of real-world example images, with “recipes” for getting your own version of the shot).

Awakening my inner Amsel Adams, I was off and running.  This 365 day Picture Project was precisely what I needed to pull it all together with daily practice.

Yep, my family did get tired of my clicking, especially the beagles. I still don’t think they are on board. We are working on that.

Here is the last installment of Picture Day Project 365. There are some duplicates from Personal Photo Favorites Oct – Dec 2011. My apologies. Furthermore, the date order is slightly “loose”, I’m completely okay with it. Just blur the final 30 days together like we all have. Links to earlier posts from 2011 are linked at the bottom.

Square photos are from instagram {Ksugarandspice} while the larger pics are from the fancy dancy Canon.  Enjoy.

“I see something special and show it to the camera. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.” – Sam Abell

It has been a wonderful year.

Best wishes to everyone embarking on their own project 365 in 2012, keep on clicking.

Here is the link to the previous posts in 2011.

https://kathleenssugarandspice.com/category/photography/project-365/