12/31/09:365/365 fondue
Originally uploaded by DJHuber
Well, this is it. Shot number 365. I actually did it. A shot a day for an entire year. When I started, I was sure that I would eventually forget to press the shutter once a day. In fact, early on, I almost missed a shot. I ended up taking a pretty questionable shot of the ceiling fan above the bed just before going to sleep. It's in my January set somewhere. I'm not proud of it, but it kept me alive.
So, was it worth it? Yes, definitely. I am quite proud of a number of my shots this year. If I hadn't been forced to shoot a shot a day, there is no way that some of those pictures would even exist right now.
The project also taught me to open my eyes. To see light (and shadow). To notice what people around me are doing. To experience the world without merely cruising through it.
This project taught me that beauty is always truth, but that not all truth is beauty. As photographers, we should feel a desire to capture both the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful truths. Most of my shots that made it to Explore are what some might consider to be beautiful and also - if I am lucky - true. Skip to my Sub/Urban set, and you'll see some of the true, but not always beautiful, photographs that I created.
But, as it turns out, there are things that many people, as they cruise through life, will not immediately think are in any way beautiful. I have also learned that, as a photographer, I may be capable - again, if I am lucky - to draw the essential beauty out of those subjects or scenes and into my photograph.
Truth, beautiful or not-so-beautiful. Or beautiful, while being not-so-beautiful. (Dang... did that last incomplete sentence mean anything? I think that it did.). I hope that I have learned, and will continue to learn, to capture truth.
So, what is in the cards for 2010? Of course, none of us have any real inkling of what the year, or even the hour, ahead may bring. But, here is my plan.
I am not going to do another 365 in 2010. It was definitely a good exercise, and I may do it again. But, I am always going to carry a camera. I am always going to shoot. I will endeavor to take at least a shot a day. I will regularly post to Flickr. In particular, I will participate in projects with some of my contacts here, or within Flickr groups (like Utata) that will stretch me to think in new ways.
And, most of all, I will regularly visit all of the photostreams of you wonderful people whom I've met over the year. You are all so great. I've met photographers from across my own small city, across Canada, from the US, Sri Lanka, Norway, New Zealand, the UK, France... and the list goes on. You have all been such an encouragement. And your creative efforts have all inspired me in different ways. Thank you!
OK, here's a paragraph break, just in case I've lost some of you early on in this tome... I'll also bold it so that, perhaps, you see it...
THANK YOU every one of you who has regularly, or irregularly, visited my photostream to leave encouraging comments and helpful suggestions. Thank you to all of my friends and family who have encouraged me as well. If it weren't for you, there is no way that I could have kept this going for the entire year. So, once again...
THANK YOU
And now, on to 2010 and whatever it may bring. Happy New Year everyone!
