1100.
That's how many photos I've taken over the past three years.
In actual fact I've taken a great deal more photographs than that, frequently I take 1100 photos in a day if we've had a special family trip out somewhere. However I have taken at least one photograph, every day, for the past three years. The reason for this happy snapping is something called the 365 Project: A Photo A Day, Every Day, For A Year; I couldn't stop now even if I tried!
I have posted every one of those photographs on this blog under the 365 page, and it is a wonderful thing to look back on. During the past few years there have been many everyday and ordinary moments with my son and family that I would have normally forgotten. I skim through the photographs of my 365 projects and suddenly a wave of memories engulf me and I am there; I'm in the garden watching three generations of my family having a snowball fight. I cannot emphasise enough how wonderful a project it is, or how fulfilling it is to take the photograph on the last day of the year knowing that you've done it!
I've learnt a few things over the past three years that make completing a 365 Project easier, and I thought I'd share them for anyone embarking on a project this year.
Tips For Completing a 365 Photo A Day Project
- Snap, snap and snap again:
- This is the first and foremost guideline. I personally feel it is better to have taken ten photographs throughout the course of the day and have the choice to select the best or most apt, than to struggle to find one for the day. Developing a habit of taking photographs is not difficult and becomes second nature very quickly. I'm a bit of an expert at whipping out my phone and capturing The Boy before he's even noticed.
- And if the worse thing happens and it gets to bedtime and you've forgotten to take a photograph, there's nothing better than a sleeping child shot. Use a torch to illuminate them and provide a warm glow rather than the flash which is harsh and risks waking your child up!
- Always have a camera to hand:
- It doesn't matter whether it's a phone camera or a swanky dSLR, I've often heard the expression that the best camera to have is the one in your hand. Children won't pause for you to run and get the proper camera, they also won't repeat it if you missed it as the setting was the wrong one. Photography is art, but it's also about capturing a moment. For most parents it will be entirely about remembering their child at that point in time, when you look back at the photograph in a year you won't care if it was take on a mobile phone or an £800 camera, just that it was taken.
- Organise:
- I had a general folder for all my 365 photos in the first year and I numbered them as to which of the 365 days they were. Disaster! During the 2013 project I set up a folder for each month and named each photograph using the date format with the day in brackets, e.g. 1st January 2014 (Wednesday). It makes it easier for me to find the relevant photographs quickly, and to check that I've got them all!
- Edit:
- Sometimes a photograph doesn't turn out quite as intended; the lighting might have been too dark or the colour is all wrong. Worse there may be a little photobombing incident, or a smudge or stain in the wrong place. Crop, lighten, clone or airbrush the mark. The queens of editing on mobile devices are HPMcQ and Point And Snap The World. I use Picmonkey.com to retrieve many a photograph. If the worst happens and a photograph is grainy and poorly exposed, I lighten the photograph, turn it black and white and put a little sepia filter on it. Suddenly I have an atmospheric and dramatic photograph which has been saved from the recycle bin.
- Challenge and Improve:
- Use the experience to hone your photography skills. I very quickly realised the importance of composing a photograph, if only to ensure there wasn't a pile of washing in the background or my shadow wasn't covering half of the subject. Work out how to take advantage of natural lighting to ensure the photograph is exposed properly or as backlighting, use the rule of thirds to help with composition, or use silhouettes to create a wonderful effect. A Party Of Seven has a fabulous series called Mammarazzi helping to explain some more advanced photography principles. You do not need a fancy camera to take fancy photos.
- Themes:
- Somewhere around the third month, you may well lose the desire to ever press the shutter button again. If this happens, set yourself a theme to interpret which will help freshen up your photography. The wonderful A Kilt And A Camera has used the themes 'Through' and 'From Where I Stand' for an entire year, the latter was a wonderful theme to interpret which I often borrowed in slow weeks. Likewise Carole Finds Her Wings has set herself weekly themes to follow and been very imaginative. I've also used the FatMumSlim Instagram prompts, and Britmums provide Snap Happy suggestions.
- 365 and Blogging:
- If posting on a blog to take part in a linky like the one I host, it is easier to do a weekly round-up post than to post daily as that is very restrictive on your free time. I use Picmonkey.com to create a collage of my seven photographs which I put into one post and write a description for each day. I also have a separate page on my self-hosted blog to keep my 365 posts on so as not to flood the main home page. Ensure that the photographs aren't too small otherwise your audience won't be able to see them properly, most websites accommodate a width of 500 pixels.
- Enjoy:
- Doing a 365 project should be about capturing the every day and the fun, it should be enjoyed and not feel like a chore. Capture the fun.
Other tips provided by the 365 bloggers who join in with my linky each week are:
- Don't beat yourself up when you forget and end up with a photo of the washing up or the book you're reading.
- Have spare batteries for your camera so you don't miss out on snaps when they run out!
- Pick a theme you can have fun with.
- Make your photos fit with your life, so its the good the bad and the ugly… it would be nice to have perfect well captured pics but its not going to happen in this house!
- Don't compare photos – just because someone else has taken a professional looking picture with an all singing all dancing dSLR camera, it doesn't make your quick phone snap any less important or meaningful!
- Don't worry about impressing anyone – it is a photo a day of your life and they are memories of your life and what is important to you. Even if it is a photo of a sleeping child, a flower in a vase or a meal you have cooked as long as it is important to you that is what matters. Don't feel stressed trying to take a better photo, just enjoy taking the ones you do.
With thanks to Jenny from Mummy Mishaps, Kate from Family Fever, Pippa from Redrose Mummy, Emma from The Mini Mes and Me, Jaime from The Oliver's Madhouse, Carole from Carole Finds Her Wings, Peg from A Kilt and A Camera, and Jo from Jo's Nursery for the above suggestions.
These are some fab pointers and useful tips for is all and especially the project 365 newbies. It will be interesting to see who sticks around to the end hey!? Thanks for compiling this and including my tip x
Some fantastic tips there – thankfully I've ticked all the boxes! Very excited to be joining in for the first time although I've no idea what next week will bring with work. I am home based though! Definitely won't be losing interest, I'd take photos all day every day if I could 🙂
thankyou for the tips, I only managed until halfway through Feb last year, I am determined to do the full year this time xx
That's brilliant, thank you so much for posting it. It has definitely helped me! Never thought of doing a theme, that's going to help on slow days!
🙂
Love these tips. I am a newbie and getting my head around it all. I have decided on a theme so I can stick to that and hopefully it will make it easier to do. I am excited to link up for the first time
These are fantastic tips, I must admit I don't put my pictures in folders as you do, we tend to download our phone photo's every week so have a folder with the download date. Anything taken on my DSLR is downloaded into a special folder as I tend to only take that out on special trips.
Looking forward to completing my second year!
some great tips. I think at some stage we all feel it is too much or we cant be bothered, but that is where this group is handy, somebody will always give you a virtual hug and pick you back up when your feeling low.
I agree they dont have to be the best pics, its all about the memory of the event/moment.
Some days I take 100 or more pics, other days just 1 or 2, but always got my camera with me
Even a seasoned 365'er needs reminding so thank you. I'll be there again for year 3!
Great tips!
Was thinking to just do a 52, but changing my mind and doing a 365. I must be crazy lol!
Awesome tips. So much so I am tempted to go full steam ahead for the 365 rather than the 52 which I was going to do…!
Many thanks for including my tip about spare batteries! I think remembering to take pictures that are important to you is something I need to remember this year and to not compare; I'm far from a photographer pro x
This is super duper The Boy And Me!! its really really helpful for people returning and new starters alike 🙂
Thanks for the mention too x
Some fab tips and a really good post. I'm trying again (again) but not telling myself it's a 365, just posting a pic a day to blipfoto.
So please you are still going strong and wish I could take pics like you x
So happy that Kierna (Learning for Life) shared this link on her page. I needed a bit of a boost for my year 3 and didn't know about your linky. Onward and upward, an incredibly useful and reinvigorating set of tips!
I'm just starting out on this journey and as a student my only camera is my phone but It's working out just fine. I've also found an app called Heyday which works great as every photo you takes it automatically uploads to that day with your location so you can easily see where you were and what photos you took
http://alices-wonderland93.blogspot.co.uk/
I'm in! Thanks for the tips. I think work days will be a challenge though!!
All excellent advice! I love that you included my theme ideas, thanks!
This year I love my themes so much that I'm doing two. Because I'm crazy. 😉
Can't wait to see your 2014 shots!
Great tips! I am going to try even harder this year, I am desperate not to fail again!
I'm hoping to join in with the for the first time at the beginning of January. I have had a good read through these tips. Can't wait to get started!!
Oh lovely, we'd love to have you join in; it's such a fun project.
Some good tips and I need to be more organised so I'm not wading through photos every week
Brilliant tips!! I need to take more this year and an slowly getting into the habit of it. I realised I don't have a daily snap of Z which is what I'm aiming for!
Hi, amazing what our experience teach us. I've seen your linky badge all over the parent corner of the blogosphere and I'm glad to finally be here to read about it myself; really fab tips to keep in mind. I hope it's okay to join in at this point. I enjoy taking pictures and improving my photography skills and photography challenges are very handy for this. Thanks for your challenge. #aNoviceMumBlogVisit
Oh that's made me smile big time this morning, thank you for commenting! We have a Facebook group which is great for support and a bit of a moan or ideas etc. You can join the project at any point as long as you do 365 consecutive days, my husband is on day 220 or something. I try to take my dSLR our when we actually 'go out' somewhere but other than that my phone camera comes in very useful! The project has captured so many little moments which I'd otherwise forget. Good luck!