Photo a Day for a Year – DONE!

[Darter02]

September 29th, 2003 I began a project where I took photos on a daily basis and posted the best one on my Pbase site in order they were shot. It was a project that about 30-something people before me had begun to do. When I first noticed their projects, I was simply amazed that anyone would do something like this and still try to get good shots. After reviewing their sites on Pbase for about a week or so, I decided to begin my own. The intent was to simply learn how to use my Canon EOS 10D that I had recently bought. I had found photography interesting but it was not a big passion.

Well, this past September 2004 I completed my year of shooting. Some days were great and some days were terrible but for the most part I would say I was able to shoot something decent. When I began, I had only one lens, the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and the body. Now that I am finished, I have four additional lenses and a lot of other gear. The intent was to simply learn how to use my camera’s technical ins & outs. What I ended up gaining was a very burning passion for photography! I am now a confirmed “lens head!”

Here is the link to my Photo a Day for a Year gallery: http://www.pbase.com/darter02/picture_a_day_for_a_year

Please feel free to comment, critic or even vote if you are a Pbaser.

Thank you,
Ron

[Ben]

Wow that's a pretty amazing achievement - any idea roughly how many photos you took in total for the project?

Great consistency of quality across the year too :)

[Adam Hicks]

Some very nice stuff in there. THat's a LOT of work! And to see the percentage of quality shots / exposures is impressive indeed!

[tkang]

Ron, awesome photos.
I don't know how you carried your camera with you everyday. It's quite impressive.

Ted

[Belmondo]

The thing that simply boggles my mind is the thought of getting 365 'keepers' in as many days. I sometimes go for months without getting a shot I'd be willing to show someone else.

Very impressive.

[CyberDyneSystems]

What an amazing accomplishment to begin with.. never mind the fact that your images are fantastic!

Thanks for keeping us up to date on your amazing journey :)

I had bit of a chuckle with this image...

http://www.pbase.com/darter02/image/33455102

Made me picture the end of your year long photoshoot! 8) :lol:

[Darter02]

Thank you all for the very nice replies. I also have to apologize for double posting it. I guess I hit the button twice oops!

It was a very fun project, some days were a lot of fun and some days where just a pain in the butt. The fun days were the ones where I found myself in the right place at the right time of course and the bad ones where the ones where I was too busy, too ill or just plain too tired of doing this to really SEARCH for a photo. Every month has at least 2 or 3 photos that I hate!

All in all though, I have to admit it was not too hard of a project to do. My family wasn’t driven completely nuts by my obsession. I met some really nice people along the way and I also explored local areas that I hadn’t before.

As for the total number of photos…that is a difficult number to come up with. Some days I would shoot only a very few shots, those were either the lucky days or the very bad days. Others I would shoot a TON of photos. I do know that I am storing about 64 GB or images, backed up on 3 HD and a lot of DVDs….

Tkang mentioned about carrying the camera everywhere. That was the trick to the whole thing. At first all I had was the 10D body and the 28-135 IS lens, so there was not much to lug around. By the end I had a full backpack camera bag, the one Canon sells, completely full and it is one HEAVY bag. I am now looking at getting a bigger and better backpack bag. I have a few more items I want and this bag is wearing out!

Another thing about carrying your gear everwhere is the fact that not ONCE this past year did I say to myself, “Wow, that would make a nice picture, too bad I don’t have my camera….” LOL

I did say quite often, “Damn, that would have made a great photo, if only I had (focused, a different lens on, the light was different, I wasn’t driving too fast, she closed her curtains…just kidding)!”

:lol:

[jhankins]

You're setting a great example for others to follow. I'm impressed, not only with the dedication but the quality of the images. That's a great project.

[RJSorensen]

I can see from this that one needs to shoot to be good, or even have any chance . . . you are a photographer.

I still take pictures, lol, but hope in time to be like you.

[RJSorensen]

I can see from this that one needs to shoot to be good, or even have any chance . . . you are a photographer.

I still take pictures, lol, but hope in time to be like you.

[Red]

I really really like your ice pics of January 11th. For example:

http://mishopi.image.pbase.com/u38/darter02/upload/25087855.279_7973_Day2_720ni.jpg

Just lovely.

Like the wife pics too :wink: :lol:

[andylepki]

fantastic idea and nice execution. well done

Andy