AYODversary
March 20, 2012
On March 10th, 2012 I quietly celebrated one full year of accountability at A Year of Days. Every day (except for the one that I totally blew*) since March 10th, 2011 I took a photograph. I carried on an east coast/west coast image conversation with a person who warms my heart and sparks my brain into action whenever I think of her.
Over this past 365 days I’ve had a lot of lows; just plain lousy photo days. Which, oddly, is something I really appreciate about this project. There is something about facing humiliation that I can really sink my teeth into and deal with–it keeps me humble, which in turn keeps me hard-working. It is almost empowering.
There were also a handful of days that I return to with delight. The shots that most satisfy me do two things: deliver visually and capture the essence of the particular day.
There are other days in which our pairs of photos sing. That is a moment of major payoff. Regarding the relationship between us, the two friends, it is notable that we haven’t seen each other for at least a decade. Yet we have a deepening friendship; across a ton of time and thousands of miles we continue to inspire each other and get to know one another better–like multi-media penpals. This is a real and evolving connection. To my mind, this is the best thing about the internet. Connections.
Good days/embrassing days, taken as a whole, AYOD is a document that reflects my doings back to me. It says to me “it is a good life.”
*So, to my disappointment I failed, on January 12th, 2012. I was enduring a long and difficult labor and let 24 hours pass without taking a photograph. Maybe this next 365 days will redeem me with a 100%.
outtakes 5
April 17, 2011
outtakes 2
March 26, 2011
a week of days
March 17, 2011
I have been doing this every day now for exactly one week. Doing something daily has an excellent stangeness. There it is, simply being there, regardless of your mood, circumstances; there it is waiting to be done again, just like yesterday. Some days it is a wealth of images that require restraint to narrow down to only one. Other days the photos-ops seem to dissolve and there’s nothing I really want to show. Either way the consistency is there to uphold and I trust that when you just do what is before you, when it feels good and when it is uncomfortable, there will be a gain. The gain may well be subtle, but that is why you have to stick with it to discover it at all.
To celebrate being one week in, here’s some shots that, for whatever reason, were not the shot of the day:
