Project 365

Project 365 is a self challenge to take a photo every day,
for an entire year

And sometimes it’s not just about photography… This Project 365 started on 01.01.2011.

Browse the finished 365 photo project for from the end or from the very first post. Most shots was taken with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, an Android based  smartphone.

At the time I used the Canon DSLRs or Canon point&shot G12 from time to time. Sometimes images was postprocessed in Lightroom and that is the greatest benefit of this project. I learned a lot, have dozen of presets available now, for later and more defined style.

 

Sarigerme, Turkey

 

Most frequent subjects in this photo project

abstract images; architecture, seasons and holidays: autumn, snow; winter; drinks and food: beer, wine; photo stylesand techniques: black and white, bw, blur, instant instant photo, lomo style, closeup; book & books I read; photo equipment I use: camera, Canon, x10 xperia Xperia X10; Things I love to do: cycling, fotografia; nature: leaves, lime tree, nature, night, sky, trees; places I’ve seen or I like to visit: Poland, Spain, travel, trip, Warsaw, Turkey
and more…

Now learn what exactly the 365 project is

Project 365 tips – take a photo every day

Project 365 How toPhoto A Day? Why should You, why could You?

“Project 365” is a self challenge to perform a particular task each day, through a whole year. It doesn’t mean You need to start on January 1st.

Also there is no need to publish each day, just to take a photo, write an idea, poem or part of the novel, exercise, practice anything, add a diary or journal entry etc.

In this article You’ll find Project 365 rules and tips, possible further use of the photos and top available free photo hosting services.

Photo A Day project may look easy at first, but that impression disappears quickly, same as ideas soon run out. Although You may want to picture only portrait of Yourself which is… intriguing.

Just do the thing definitely on a daily basis and keep the record to observe and encourage Yourself. There is also an opportunity to do something each day for another person or community. Just get creative.

Me and my friend (project 1, project 2) have started on 01.01.2011 and I hope we will keep our resolution to the 31 December 2011 ( update: we did! )

To all of You wanting to start such project – best wishes and feel free to submit own links in comments section.

 

Could You Make it? – One photo per day… sounds easy…

but it can be pretty difficult… It’s good to have an universal Super Zoom… but it’s not a requirement of any kind. Sometimes a great choice is a tiny and waterproof camera. I had to choose such once and that was finally an Olympus, all depends on the purpose, knowledge and the age of user.
Not every location is allowed with a PRO camera. “Bridge” cameras are placed between pocket sized point-and-shoots and DSLRs cameras.

There are no rules for good photographs,
there are only good photographs

~ Ansel Adams

15 Rules and Tips

So here they are;)

1. Take one (or more) photo per day – definitely the most important rule

2. Choose ONE, sometimes if You want to describe things better publish more pictures, but not five similar cat / flower shots

3. There is no real need to upload / publish every day, but it HELPS. The backlog grows pretty quick!

4. Take a picture as early as possible, night makes time runs faster and it’s harder to decide what to shoot.

5. Don’t wait for a ‘precious moments or ideas’ otherwise You can end up with nothing. If You “feel it” – take the shot, at the end of the day it can be THE only ONE. Maybe You’ll take a better picture later, but You won’t miss a day.

5. Make the taking photo process shortest possible, unless You really need to shoot some fancy or difficult setup

6. Have Your mobile or compact camera near and ready in case You’re tired or in difficult conditions.

7. Take camera with You whenever it’s possible

8. Remember and review previous photos to figure out next, if nothing comes into Your mind. Create series and thematic collections

9. Anything can be photographed – another important tip – but use it only as the last resort

10. Study technical aspects also nuts and bolts of photography

11. Watch other people’s photos – 3rd most important rule – but DON’T COPY – think!

12. Some people write down their ideas for further use, I prefer to shoot right away or ad-lib – You’ll find Your own way

13. Learn, memorize, experiment…

14. Find some nice application for easy photo processing / retouching in a mobile phone or on Your computer + social media sharing (Android, iPhone) like Instagram

15. Consider a Project 52 – Photo A Week if you really do not have time, maybe You’ll like it and next time it changes to 365

Last one tip

Set Your targets for those 365 small steps:

developing creativity, preserving memories, improving technical skills (knowing the camera or software), learning to see – from other people’s pics, shot what You like (pets, plants, sport, portraits, blurs, stars…), don’t give up and finish what You started, study and read.

You don’t need to follow all the rules and tips same as You won’t take all those 365 photos at once. That’s the idea.

Creating a photo project 365 using already taken pictures – from Your HDD makes no sense

Some tips You’ll discover by Yourself :)

Video? Finally You can change 365 photos into a video and put on Youtube

You may choose videos from the playlist

 

Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas.
It is a creative art

~A. Adams

Remember to Store, Save and Secure Photos – with functional, portable multimedia bank. Also store photos while traveling, it’s not nice tu run out of memory

Example photo taken with Android app – RetroCamera ©plrang

About the photo above. You can even buy such vintage camera – I got one for ca $50 and I just love it. It was produced from 1931-1936. Currently there is over than 20 working vintage photo cameras in my collection and hope to grow this collection a lot more.

Shoot first then think, but first know what to shoot


Example photo from the Nokia mobile – Swans © magiance

Cameras don’t take pictures, photographers do

True?

Only in 50% or…

Example photo from Xperia X10 mobile phone ©plrang

Example photo from Xperia X10 mobile phone ©plrang

 You can also

to

ELIMINATE

and

COMPETE

Example image taken with point-and-shot camera

Example image taken with point-and-shot camera

Example photo from Nokia phone ©magiance

Example Photo from Nokia phone ©magiance

Architecture nightly. Warsaw and the Palace of the Culture and Science © magiance

Follow my Twitter bot which role is to find another Project 365 challengers

If you will publish your photos on Twitter with the right hashtag, for example, it will retweet your content with pleasure:) Very occasionally it tweets about photography related stuff, but as I’ve said it happens very rarelly


Did this help?

Do You find any useful tips? I hope so!