1.01.2012

A Day, A Photo: 365 2011 Completed

I've completed my photo a day project, and I can barely believe that I actually did it. It started out strong. I wanted to work on improving some of my skills as a still photographer. I wanted to try new out new techniques. Somewhere along the way, I just wanted to finish the damn project.

As the project is now over, it is time to look back at what I have accomplished. I must have shot over thousands of photos this year. Posting 366. (more on that later) Now I am going to take you on a journey throughout the year, through each month. Discussing what I was thinking as the year passed along. Let's begin.

January

I started this project as a suggestion from a friend to help me build on my ever growing photography skills. I had dreams of practicing depth of field, portraits, lighting, colors, time value, yada, yada, yada. In January, you can see how I much I really tried to accomplished this.

1.18 - J.P.

1.22 - Spider-Man Attacked

February 

I soon discovered that coming up with ideas for photographs was a lot harder than first thought, and it was only month two. I also had a problem with my work schedule. I was on the nightside shift, not giving me a lot of time with daylight. So I tried my best to take advantage of nighttime photography

2.10 - Light Speed

2.4 - Take Off

March

I think I really found my stride in March. I was cruising along with low light photos, and Las Vegas provides a lot of neon lighted opportunities. Also I started to attempting a simple photography trick, levitation. The trick is in deed very simple, but lighting needs to be nearly perfect for it to work.

3.7 - Levitation

3.20 - R2 D2

April

As Spring approached, I was able to take advantage of the increasing daylight. Hence I also was participating in more outdoor (non work related) events, including to a trip to Atlanta, Georgia.

4.22 - Mariachi

4.3 - WrestleMania

May

I had a lot of great ideas to do still life or product shots this month. Most days it didn't work out so I had to scramble to make the photo a day deadline. This month had a lot of of days devoted to the Sahara Hotel Casino closing.

5.20 - Ghost Surveillance

5.7 - Final Days of The Sahara

June

I think as June came along, I was struggling to find anything interesting to photograph. Pretty much all of these photos are just something I saw that day. It is a good thing I own cats. You may have noticed there are a few cat photos throughout the year.

6.12 - The Airborne Toxic Event

6.6 - Light Reading

July

Summer arrived so one would think there would be tons of photos ideas. Not here. The first part of the month was rough. I tried to capture lightning, and fireworks with poor execution. In the middle of the month, I started looking for light art opportunities, and I was looking forward to a vacation back home. There would definitely be photos to take in Montana.

7.10 - Lady of the Night

7.27 - Over the Hump...

August

Montana was spectacular! No problems finding photographs for that week. It was harder to decide which one would make the cut. I also wanted to document the extreme heat Las Vegans had to experience.

8.3 - Mammoth Hot Springs

8.4 - The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

8.19 - Pool Day

September

I think a got a second wind after I purchased my new Mac Book Pro this month. I started to really work on textures and lighting.

9.7 - Slight Texture 9.24 - UNLV Game

October

This month seemed to flyby. Good photos were everywhere I went. Monsoon season provided great weather with flooding, clouds and lighting. Then there was football games, flag football season, fighter jets, holidays.... it was a plethora of photography.

10.13 - Thunderbird!

10.15 - Injured Reserve

November

Even though there are some good photos in this month, I think I was getting to the point were I just wanted this project to be finished. I believe there was a lot of "fauxtography" within this month.

11.18 - Lights Arrived!!11.3 - Desert Oasis

December

I got one final burst of endurance as I saw the finish line ahead. I was excited for the holiday season because I could rely on holiday photos being great ideas. As the final week approached, it got increasing more clear that I would finish this project. Shooting those last few photos was very easy.

12.17 - FESTIVUS!

12.6 - Open Wide

Conclusion

I am glad I attempted this project. I am definitely proud of myself that I actually completed it. There are so many things that I will start and despite my best efforts I never finish them.

Friends suggested that I continue going, but I remember the mid year frustration and I think I will take a year off. Maybe I will make another attempt in 2013. If you want to check out all the photos from 2011 go to my Flickr site.

I would like to thank all my cats for always being there when I needed a photo idea. Maybe I will start a Cat Photo of the Day website. I am now more obsessed with taking my camera everywhere I go, that is for sure. I may not take a photo every day, but at least I will be ready.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot. I have a total of 366 photos for 365 days in the past year. Way back in January, I had an idea that for special events throughout the year I would occasionally post more than one photo a day. I did it only one time. Ooops!

Happy 2012!!!!