What a great idea.

Project 365: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way

People will often say that their whole lives flashed before their eyes after they experienced a traumatic event. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid, but we think that sounds pretty incredible.When Taylor McKnight started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004, he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!Now that he’s in the middle of doing it for a second time, we asked Taylor to write about it for us. Read on for our tutorial on how and why to create your own daily photographic history.

Project 365: How to Create a Daily Photographic History www.photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/ Why do it?Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!) Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast. Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

Tips on How to Do ItHere are six tips on how to create your own Project 365:

Bring Your Camera EverywhereYes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.
Make Posting EasyYou can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog.com are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.
Vary Your ThemesTry to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.

Tell a StoryUse your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.
Don’t Stop, No Matter What This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place. There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!

Post early, post often Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.

ExamplesThe Project 365 2004 Recap — Read Taylor’s thoughts on the project after the year was over and see some of the highlights.
Project 365, 2006 (in progress) — Watch a slideshow of Taylor’s second go-around with Project 365.
Noah Brier’s One a Day — In a more self-reflective variation, our pal Noah takes a photo a day using the webcam built into his MacBook.
Taylor McKnight is a co-founder of Podbop, a music lover, and a fanatical concert goer. He’s always planning his next adventure. http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Christmas Ponderings

Well, Christmas is almost over. All in all it was a good day. The kids all enjoyed their gifts, and so did Dave and I. Our Christmas this year was a bit scaled down compared to previous years. With the move and the new house, the funds were just not as available like they have been in the past. However, I don't think anyone was disappointed.

I fully expected to have some sort of family here for Christmas. Our last 8 Christmas' have been spent in England. I would have loved to have had more family to share the holiday with. Holidays are just not the same without family, ya know? It has been just the 5 of us for so long that this is the norm for the kids. I grew up with huge family gatherings for the holidays. The 6 of us, plus my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles (when they could make it). It was great. I really want my boys to experience that. That sense of family, the closeness, the bond, the fun, the craziness, the memories.

Dave and I have decided we want to have family for the holidays. We want our house to be the hub of celebrations. Of course, right now we live in Texas and most of our family lives in Missouri. We do have some family in Louisiana, Florida, and Oklahoma, but the majority is in Missouri. We do plan to eventually retire in Missouri, but that is going to be quite a while.

So, we are thinking about inviting everyone here for Christmas next year. My mom and Grandma. My sister and brothers, their wives and their kids. Dave's parents. Dave's brothers and their wives and kids. My Aunts and their husbands. Whoever wants to come can come. I'm thinking if everyone comes that would be 34 people total. Fifteen kids, nineteen adults, I think. LOL Who knows where they will all sleep, or sit. We figure if everyone brings sleeping bags for the kids and air mattresses, if they have them, we can fit everyone on the floor somewhere. :) Of course, there would need to be more table/eating space for everyone, but we were planning on getting some folding chairs and tables for camping anyway. Sounds like a ton of fun. At least I think it does. Sure, lots of planning would be involved, but heck we've got a year to do it, right? Yep, sounds like a plan. :)

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to stop by and wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. :) I know that it is sometimes hard to keep our focus on what is truly important this season. I hope that you have been able to keep your priorities straight. I hope that you have treasured every minute with your family and your friends, and the life God has blessed you with. I hope that you continue to be blessed for the remainder of this year and well into 2008. :)

I Corinthians- A Christmas Version

-I CORINTHIANS 13 -

A CHRISTMAS VERSION

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,

strands of lights and shiny balls,

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,

baking dozens of Christmas cookies,

preparing gourmet meals and

arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen,

carol in the nursing home and

give all that I have to charity,

but do not show love to my family,

it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels

and crocheted snowflakes,

attend a myriad of holiday parties

and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ,

I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way,

but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return

but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things,believes all things,hopes all things,endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break,

pearl necklaces will be lost,

golf clubs will rust,

but giving the gift of love will endure.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Author Unknown