365 continues

Several times in the past, I've written about the 365 project.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to attack something like this.  Although I do tend to take a lot of pictures, I don't necessarily take them every single day.

When I looked into this project, it was in the middle of December.  I posted a picture on the 18th following a geocaching trip up in the desert on a day where it rained up there for most of the day.  But I didn't take another picture until a week later on Christmas Day.  I suspected that I might not be up to a project like this.  I was wrong.

I started posting photos in succession on the 30th of December, once again after a geocaching hike.  I have yet to miss a day.  I've played little tricks with myself that has helped me out tremendously.  I have my fall back pictures in case I end up with no inspiration that particular day.  My fall back pictures tend to be flowers.  Living in Southern California, we have flowers blooming year round, so it's relatively easy to take pictures of flowers.  I think I could post a different flower picture ever single day.

However, I didn't want to be known as the "flower" guy.  I follow several photographers on the 365 Project, and while their photos are excellent, I also find them rather repetitive.  They do certain things very well.  I'd like to see them expand into other areas, just to see them stretch themselves a little.  This is one of the tacks I'm taking.  I'm trying to take a bunch of different photos of different things, just to expand and stretch myself.  I know I can take good landscapes and flower and plant pictures.  Can I take a good street picture?

I don't think I'm that good with portraits or with black and white photography, so I've been experimenting in that area.  My daughter issued me a challenge for the month of March - no flowers.  That's been tough, but I've worked other things in.  I kind of cheated today, not taking a picture of flowers, but taking pictures of the aftermath - the berries.  And now, as I look at my monthly calendar, I've seen March peppered with pictures of birds.  My daughter has already said I can't take pictures of birds next month.  We'll see how that goes.

I've been lucky to have included a couple of geocaching photos into my 365 project.  I actually thought the bulk of my photos would be geocaching photos, but that hasn't turned out to be the case.  I haven't been geocaching a lot this month due to other commitments, but with a two week break looming on the horizon, that might change shortly.  Either way, I'm glad it hasn't happened that way.  I'm enjoying working on still life, playing around with different objects just to see what the light will do.  Almost every photo I think about posting goes through the black and white processing just to see what it might look like in that medium.

I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera with me almost every where I go.  Sometimes, I go out with a specific goal in mind, other times, I just take pictures and hope for the best.  Ironically, that's what I ended up posting today and I've already gotten some very nice comments back on that particular photo.

I guess what I'm really trying to say with this is I'm actually surprised that I'm still doing this.  As I posted in an earlier post, I didn't think I would be able to do this.  But I can and I'm finding it easier and easier to find good quality subjects to photograph.

Pictures were taken for the following dates:
March 1st, 2011.
March 10th, 2011.
March 13th, 2011.