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New year, new photo project!

Polka Dot Cottage photo-a-day project for JANUARY: Winter

I’ve been doing some version of Project 365 or another since 2008. I’m about to embark on my sixth year-long photo project, and I still find it as enjoyable as ever.

The daily practice of taking pictures has definitely been instrumental in improving my photography. The first few 365s I did were fairly structured, in that they had some rules surrounding what I shot. In 2008, I did “One Object 365 Days” and chose my feet as that object. My rationale was that I would always have them with me no matter where I went, and so there would not be the possibility of screwing up. True as that might have been, in retrospect “feet” were not a wise choice. While I did get some valuable experience in creative photography from that project, the biggest thing I learned was this: people on the internet are creepy. Six years later, and I’m still blocking weirdos on flickr who are attracted to my foot pictures. shudder

The next 365 I did was “A Year of Mornings” and I really, really loved that one. There’s something awfully photogenic about mornings.

After that, it was “Up Close and Personal” where I worked on capturing small details. It wasn’t usually detailed enough to be considered truly macro photography, but it was a great challenge nonetheless. I still enjoy getting in close.

My most recent two 365s have had no theme at all. That has brought with it a certain amount of freedom which I have enjoyed, but I’ve decided I’d like to do something more structured again this year, and to keep it fresh, I’m going to do a new theme every month!

January’s theme will be “winter.” Appropriate, no?

My sister and my sister-in-law are joining me this month 9and maybe beyond, if I can convince them…), and they suggested following daily prompts rather than it being all loosely-themed. So I came up with 31 words and phrases that we can use as January guides.

I’m telling you all this, because I thought you might also like to play along. The prompts are listed below, as well as on this Google calendar that you can subscribe to, if you want to be nerdy about it (like I am).

Polka Dot Cottage photo-a-day project for JANUARY: Winter

To join in, post your images wherever you like: Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whathaveyou… and use the hashtag #pdcwinter

I’ll be posting my own images publicly on Flickr in this album, although you may see them pop up in other places that you follow me. I tend to share the love all over social media, in case you haven’t noticed

Just remember, the prompts are intentionally vague-ish and completely open to interpretation! There’s no right or wrong way to do it, and you shouldn’t feel intimidated if you’re new to this. The idea is to have fun with it, and maybe stretch your photography skills a bit, too!

Join us – it’ll be fun!

Winter 1/31 - New beginnings

Today’s prompt is “New beginnings.” Go see what you can do with that 😉

Happy 2014, everybody!

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

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1 thought on “New year, new photo project!

  1. […] since I am on kind of a kick now, and I did invite you to do the Winter theme along with me (has anyone taken me up on that?) I thought I’d show you what I captured for the first half […]

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