It's been nearly 1,500 days in a row that I've been taking a photo a day. I don't think I've missed more than an handful of days over that time. I continue to learn and find it now to be truly be a part of me. I don't ponder whether I'll keep doing it, I have no reason not to. It's not a chore anymore. As I've mentioned often, it's a mindfulness that has taught me a lot of things. Each year I tried to add something to challenge myself. 2008, was my first crack at it so I kept it pretty basic. 2009 I tried to create one word titles for each of my photos without doubling up during the year. Last year was the crazy challenge of trying to attach a song to each photo. This year I simply allowed myself to add video as an option. I'm still pondering what I might do in 2012. I feel like I'm repeating myself which isn't all bad. The fact I still find the the way sun hits the 13th hole at the Hillcrest beautiful every time I play it is likely a good thing. Yet I'd still like to expand my notion of beauty and my notion of what constitutes a moment worth capturing. Certainly not all of my 365 shots are truly worth capturing and remembering but many, the majority are I think. If any of you have any ideas of what I might focus on for 2012, please share.
Creating a composition video is very rewarding for me and my family. While the photos are mine and represent the world as I saw it, it's a great way to see the past year and remember events and moments we shared and experienced together. Many of the images have a specific story and memory. Others are representative of the beauty I see around me. Certainly the addition of HDR and other image enhancements add even more awe to the world around me. A quick scan of the various subjects shows the following results:
- Family: 86 photos
- Videos: 44
- Friends: 40
- Dogs: 38 (of particular note, 14 of those featured Rue in some type of weird sleeping position)
- Sky: 32 (likely do do the HDR app but I seemed to be sky watching more than ever)
- Me: 30 (I need to work at getting that number down)
- Golf: 28 (I think that's down from last year. I need to play more courses)
Posting photos online continue to add so much to the experience. People have shared many of these moments with me both in person and virtually. We see the collection of these images to tell rich stories of one another and I'm happy to share some of my family and life with the world.
Technically this video was pretty easy to create. I used iMovie instead of Final Cut Express. I simply brought in all photos I had tagged with 365/11. I cross referenced them with flickr and discovered a few errors. Unlike in past years, I didn't painstakingly go through each month to insure every day was represented. I'm sure there are a few days missing. Not because I didn't take a photo but because I didn't tag them properly. Big deal. Photos are set to 5 second and fit to frame by default. After adding music I tend to view and trim accordingly. Pictures of little meaning or content tend to get cut down to 3.5 or 4 seconds. Photos that have some story or object of significance seem better suited at times to using the Ken Burns effect. I'm not sure I always get it right but discreet pan and zoom can be effective. That's why I don't want to use it as the default. Choosing which photos need or benefit from that effect is intentional. I hope that comes through. I finish with a couple of songs from my daughter which I did in 2009 as well. I tried to make some smooth transitions between the end of songs and beginnings which required some additional adjustments.
Anyway, it's meaningful to me. and easy enough to share with you. I'm Maybe you'll recall some of the photos, maybe not. Maybe you make an appearance in some, maybe you don't. Maybe you've got 30 minutes to watch it, maybe you don't.