Tackling 2010 - One Pixel at a Time

Photography has always been of interest to me, although I am very much a novice.  Along with my 2010 resolution to begin a blog, I decided to start a 365 project.  From the 365 Project website:

What is the 365 Project?

The 365 project aims to collect photos documenting 1 year of your life. We want to build a picture of the little day to day things that make your life so special and unique. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera.

I have a camera.  Am I ready to take on the challenge of one photo a day for the next year?  I think so. I am willing to take some pictures with my cell phone camera when nothing else is available.  I am willing to submit pictures that are just that... pictures, not every day will produce a masterpiece.  I am ready to look at the world through the lens of a camera each and every day for the next year.

Let's begin with some research first.  Photojojo has a nice article, Project 365: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way.  My favorite piece of advice here is "Don't Stop, No Matter What".  Wonder how many days into this project I will need to revisit THAT sage wisdom?  Day 72?  134?  This is a big commitment.  But it's time to push past the comfort zone (brave the deep, right?) and try the project even though I could possibly fail at it.  It's OK to make the jump.

Before I jump, I usually start researching and one of the best methods I have to do this is to take my questions to my Twitter PLN.  One great find (from PLN friend @hadleyjf) is the article The Top 10 Tips for Surviving the 365 Project Thread!  I also found several other Tweeters beginning the project for the first time.  We have now begun to connect through Flickr groups.  I am trying:
     Project 365,
     2010/365photos
     Twitter PLN 365/2010 Group 

One more group, EduImages, also has a corresponding wiki (Thinking About Words Through Images) that I will try to contribute to on a monthly basis.  This is a group started by @paulawhite, she writes:

Many of us join a 365 project only to feel bad when we cannot keep it going for every day of the year. Some of us DO keep it going and find new ways to look at our lives as we look through the lens of a camera. Thinking of taking a picture every day often makes us look at our world differently.

Many of us, as educators, rarely go for long without thinking of our kids, our classroom, a lesson, a plan, or something to do with school. SInce we do that, and since everyone seems to enjoy looking for pictures for a 'photo a day' project, it might be fun to combine the two. What if we took a conceptual look at our world, through our eyes as parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and colleagues, yet keeping in mind our calling--our profession--our jobs as educators?

The idea is for each of us to take pictures throughout the month where all the photos share visual representations of our understanding of the word we have chosen or the word we choose for that month. At the end of the month, we write a synopsis of our process on the wiki page, include a link to our set of pictures and perhaps post the one we like best on the wiki as well. Thus, each page of the wiki becomes a compilation of our collective understanding of the word of the month. (You can take a picture a day, one a week, or just when the mood strikes or you see something that resonates with you.) The options are open, so you can fit this into YOUR schedule.

There are many groups to choose from and I may have overdone it by choosing more than just one, but this is also an opportunity for me to expand my PLN and learn more about Flickr as well.  Thanks to @DoremiGirl and @lhiltbr for introducing me to these great groups!

So, I began taking pictures on Dec 28, 2009 (my anniversary).  I find it interesting that so many people feel the need to start on Jan 1.  If you missed that date, jump in on the 3rd!  Try starting in March!  It doesn't have to be the first day of the calendar year - make this work for YOU.

At the top of my blog I added a slideshow from my Flickr 365 set to show off my pictures.  Taking this further, @McTeach has a fantastic new blog to showcase the daily pictures.  I may try that next year!

Another thing I will try is to load my pictures to my Shuttercal account.  It's a nice way to organize my pictures visually.  I am hoping that Shuttercal boosts their embed capabilities as I would love to see my entire calendar embedded but don't see that as an option yet.  Monthly, I will post the pictures from that month as a mosaic.  This can be made through Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.

When I first tried to make a mosaic for my December pics, I was frustrated because no matter what I entered (email address, screen name, etc.) the pictures that returned were not mine.  Under FAQs, information to link to Flickr account.  I clicked on the relink your account choice for the screen to authorize access to my Flickr account.  Once linked, I could make a mosaic with my pictures.  Nice to see that there is an "opt-out" option too.  I'm still finding this to be a little dicey, but will keep at it.  I did download my mosaic jpg earlier today fortunately.

Mosaic for December 2009 pictures

Finally, I may make a photo book for myself at the end of the project.  One suggestion is to use Blurb.  I'll keep this in mind towards the end of the year.

So, who's with me?  Any takers to tackle 2010 one pixel at a time?  Let's go!