One day, one photo, one moment at a time …
So this year I’m attempting a 365 project – one photo every day for a full year.
I’ve started a few of these before, but never made it past the two‑week mark. Back then, I was using a DSLR to document my everyday life, which made things a bit more challenging. Now I can use my phone or whatever camera happens to be in my hand, and that flexibility has made all the difference.
I’m now on Day 57, and I haven’t missed a day since January 1st.
January gave me 31 photos. I won’t share them all here, but I’ll post a monthly update with a few favourites and whatever thoughts the month stirred up.
Of the 31 images, 8 were taken with the Sony A7RIII and 23 with my OnePlus 12. Among my favourites is this shot made with the Sony and a Lensbaby Edge 50. This lens always surprises me.
I don’t wake up every morning thinking, I have to get a photo for the 365 project today. But the thought is there, brewing quietly under the surface.
Another highlight was a coastal scene from Keel Beach on Achill Island. It was the first shot I took as I arrived there.
We went to Keem for a spin today. This is the first photo I took as soon as we got down to the beach – a couple watching the sea. I took many more after that, but they didn’t matter. I had already detached from the process.
And then there was the day I had to sprint for cover from a sudden downpour, only to catch a man walking straight into the sun on my phone.
One minute it was lovely and sunny – the next, the rain arrived and sent most people running for cover. I caught this phone pic just as the light broke through. A lone figure under an umbrella, caught between the weather and the light.
Moments you can’t plan, only notice, and hope that you can get a shot before it’s gone.
What I learned in this first month is that getting a daily shot does take effort, but the project has sharpened my awareness of what’s around me. Scenes I might have ignored before now feel worth pausing for. Even the mundane moments matter. They’re the small instances that make up a day. And, I’m learning to embrace the mundanity – because there’s a lot of it. 🙂
Alongside the photos, I’ve been adding a few words each day. Sometimes it’s context, sometimes it’s a thought or a feeling, sometimes it’s just whatever was spinning around my head that day. It’s becoming a record not just of images, but of my own mental landscape – just what it was always intended to be.
So that’s January done – only eleven more months to go. I’m not going to get too uptight if I don’t make it to the end. I’d like to finish, of course, but each day is a small step forward, and most of the learning is about myself and my photography anyway.
If you’re interested, you can follow along on my Facebook page.
And if you’ve read this far, thank you, and feel free to share any thoughts.
