Reflections

Pretentious pose with a mug of V60 on top of the hill looking out over Leith. With help from a tripod and a wife.

Well I have done it a whole year. I got a camera for my birthday last year and wanted to figure out how it worked. When I was still in the exciting new gadget phase I signed up for this on a whim.

I decided I would start taking a photo every day and do it for a year. I'm very good at starting things like that, but not finishing them. For some reason I felt compelled to actually complete this one.

I may keep going. I'm so used to taking the camera everywhere I feel strange without it. But I will be less stringent about missing days.

Sometimes I have tried to aim for the best photo. Sometimes just something that represented the day. It started off as a way to try and improve photography, veered into a blog/journal and settled somewhere between the two. There are some that are dull, but there are only a handful I am particularly embarrassed by. The rest I have generally tried to put some effort in (ranging from ridiculously over-processed to quite over-processed).

Some things I have learned, but not always implemented:

1) Look around you.
Walking the same way to work every day and trying to find new things to photograph made me realised how much I have never noticed. Buildings, trees, people.

2) Go new places.
There are so many places, little lanes, parks, that I would never have gone to had it not been for the hunt for a blip. I'll take different routes to go to familiar places. Sometimes it's good to just go out and explore with no agenda or place to go.

3) Do something creative every day.
Even if it is just in a little way. Write. Play. Create. Sing. Build.

4) Resist Monotony
If there is an option to leave the house and see something new or spend another night at home in front of the TV, always go out. Journalling everyday will soon make you realise how monotonous life can become without you noticing.

5) Sometimes you need to be in the moment.
Counter-intuitively, photographing everything has made me realise sometimes you need to put away the smartphone and camera, and appreciate the surrounding, party, gig, moment you are in.

6) You can never have enough coffee.
Obviously.

In the words of Mr Steve Jobs - Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish..

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to comment.
One my favourite shots.
And this one.
And Mumford.