As the majority of these blogs will be photography related, I thought I would link my last blog on procrastination with a bit of photography procrastination. Photo a Day is, as it describes itself, taking a photo a day. This is a challenge I set myself at the start of the year after seeing my flatmate try but fail. It is quite a common practice as a couple of my friends have tried it, but it is a lot harder than one might think as I have nearly been caught out a few times.
Firstly, in order to successfully do this each day for a year, you've got to be committed. You have to want to do it. The tips I will be giving in this post will be tips I have applied to my own technique when it comes to doing the challenge. Okay so here goes...
What camera can I use?
This is probably the question most people ask themselves because, of course, you have to use a camera. DSLR or Compact is probably more convenient than using Film, but here is where you can make your own rules up. Some people remain loyal to one camera, other people however maybe use 2 or 3. I personally use about 5 methods of taking different photos. I will explain more in the Difficulties section.
What are the rules?
The great thing about this is that you can make your own rules up. This is your own personal goal and unless you're doing it for a company. Just try to keep your photos up to date whenever or if ever you transfer them to a computer because otherwise if you are using a range of methods to take photos, you may forget on what device they were taken. The general rule I give myself is, midnight to midnight, upload onto the PC at least once a week, a photo counts if you are in it but it was taken by somebody else, a photo counts if you order someone to take it in a particular way. Print screens do not count. Also, you don't even have to do photos. Do a video a day, or a blog a day!
How long do I have to do this for?
Ultimately, this is just for fun and for memories sake so you can do it for as long or as little as you like. If you get bored, then stop. I chose a year because it is a round length of time rather than 4 months and 13 days.
What's the point?
My response to that question would be what's the point in doing anything?! If you think you will like it, then try it. I do this for myself as a way to keep a photographic diary for 2013 and to also improve my photography. It encourages you to take your camera everywhere with you. I am a very competitive person and now that I have gotten myself to this stage 4 months in, I think if I stopped now I would very much regret it.
If you have any more questions then don't hesistate to ask me via the Contact page.
Sample photos:
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| 15th March - Nice evening at Humphrey Head. |
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| 30th January - Health Attack! |
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| 28th March - Crows eating out of a bin. |
Difficulties
- You have 24 hours to complete each photo by any means. A problem I have found on occasion is that if you come across a day when you are really busy, you may forget your camera. Now, as already mentioned, I use about 5 different cameras in order to capture the image from that day. When I have forgotten to take my camera somewhere, I'll either use my camera on my phone (luckily this makes the challenge a lot easier nowadays, but photos may not be as high a quality), or a friends phone/camera , or just ANY camera you can get hold of.
- If you forget to take a photo on a particular day, then you can do one of two things. Either take double the amount of photos the next day, or cheat. Luckily this hasn't been an issue for me just yet, but it's only April! A piece of advice I would give you is to set an alarm at say 10pm so it gives you a couple of hours of warning to take a photo of something. Just anything. I will show you an example of when I almost forgot and what that photo looked like!
Remember, it is just a bit of fun. Spice up your rules, be lenient and your photographs are sure to improve. Get out the house most days too. Take a photo of something funny, serious, colourful, abstract, HDR, peaceful, romantic, dangerous, portraits, do night time photography. Even take a photo of yourself or your new born baby and watch it grow up through a series of pictures. Do anything you so desire. If you think this challenge will be easy, challenge yourself by only doing a particular type of photo all year such as Upside down photos for a year. Customise it and have a laugh. I hope this page will inspire you. And no, you don't have to wait until 1st January 2014. One more thing, remember to write down which day you took which photo and give it an original caption. Good luck and enjoy yourself!
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