For a while now, I’ve been in awe of my friends and colleagues who were able to commit to any of the photo of the day projects. There seems to me a couple of things about this. First of all, they are able to commit to it and secondly, they just plain come up with interesting pictures. I’m also realistic as I’ve watched people start something like this with enthusiasm and then have it peter away on them.
On January 1, I decided to try this on my own. I didn’t announce it at the time since I didn’t know if I could do it. I so appreciate the photographers who always have a camera with them and seem to be able to just find the right angle, the right subject, and the right lighting to take great pictures. I’ve always been one of those people who see something and say “Gee, I wish I had my camera to take a picture of that.”
I’m banking on the fact that committing to a project like this will make me a better photographer and find a way to take my own interesting content. I’m not the type to take pictures of people but rather pictures of things. In this regard, I’ve followed @dailyshoot to see what sorts of ideas that it generates. A posting a daily gives marching orders for people who follow. I’m going to give it a shot. I may not follow all of their suggestions but will rely on the post for inspiration at times.
I waited a week before sharing this to see if it was going to be possible. After a week, I think that it’s going to be possible, fun, and interesting. I’m also hoping that it will make me a better photographer by forcing me to take pictures all the time. I’m going to be on a personal commitment program to get it done.
As I read more about the DailyShoot, I found their list of preferred platforms for collecting and displaying images. On of these was Tumblr and I’ve always wanted to do something serious with Tumblr. I went in and deleted the content that I had previously posted there and will use the site dougpete.tumblr.com as my showcase for my pictures. Please feel free to drop by and see what I’m able to contribute.
I really hope that a year from now, I’m able to look back over a year’s worth of photos and see some evident of real growth in this area. As you’ll note, if you visit the site, I will license my work under a Canadian Creative Commons license that I think best fits this sort of activity.
doug --- off the record 