New Year's Eve

Thanks, Everyone, for tuning in. I understand that at the start of a new exhibit, the artist will give a little speech on the opening day, to explain the inspiration, et cetera, behind the work in the exhibit. This is my speech.

Earlier this year, I heard about a woman who took - and posted to an online album - one photo each day for a year. She chose a calendar year, Jan 1 - Dec 31. If I remember correctly - and I can't always be sure I do, even when I swear to an infallible memory - she used her phone to take the photos.

When I heard of this idea, I thought how amazing it would be to see your life in photos over a whole year, one photo each day. But then I realized that it was already March, so I couldn't do a Jan - Dec project. I decided to wait until Jan 1 2012 to begin. In talking with a few select fellow-creators, a couple nuances to this idea were bandied about: take a photo at the same time every day; take a photo on each hour - progressively - each day (ie: 12:00 am, the next day 1:00 am, and so on); take photos with a theme in mind (ie: kindness, shoes, water, etc). I thought that, even though those ideas are intriguing, I wouldn't want to be restricted in any way.

As the days and weeks progressed, I kept coming back to this idea. I was already excited about the project, and could not wait for Jan 1. And then I started to feel a bit sad, thinking that Jan 1 is so far away. And I worried that I might lose interest or worse: forget. I mentioned it to Hubs, and - thinking out loud - said "...unless I started on my birthday? Do a year beginning August 13...?"

His response: "That is much more creative."

And how lucky for me that I thought of this alternative - dare I say better? - idea two weeks before my birthday! What a tragedy if this hadn't occurred to me until two weeks after! What would I have done then?

He agreed to loan me his camera for a year, which I will carry with me everywhere and take pictures of whatever and whenever and where ever. Out of all the photos I take each day, I will choose one or two of my favorites to post.

Keep in mind that I am not a photographer, I am just a grapher of photos. I don't promise that these photos will be good, but I know what I like and expect that I will learn and improve as my eye gets used to seeing the the world through the view finder. My goal is to post daily, but I will commit to posting at least once a week, separating each day into it's own photo post. I also reserve the right - since it's my blog - to add other creativity, such as poetry, links to things I find interesting, or just ramblings on my teeth.

My hope for this project is that I will learn to see the world in a different way. I hope that I will look back on year 32 - a year which doesn't seem to hold anything spectacular for me - and realize what a spectacular year it really was. I appreciate that you're along for the ride; I appreciate your encouragement and your willingness to be underwhelmed while I explore my world and myself.

Please tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel - well, same Bat channel at least - for the start of Year 32.

Namaste