Day 1 - January 1 - Christmas Treasure

Here it is, January 1st. A new year (2014? Already? It seems like yesterday that it was 1994!) filled with possibilities, with hopes, with dreams. This is the year I get back into photography, big time. This is the year my passion for taking photos returns. I first took up photography in 2005, and it quickly became a passion. By early 2009, however, it had to take a backseat. We were expecting our first child and I had no time or energy to devote to photography. In 2011, we welcomed our second child and I found that I had even less time or energy to pursue my hobby. Now that our girls are two and almost five - how did that happen? - I have resolved to take the plunge and immerse myself in my photography once again. I feel very much like a beginner as there seems to be so much that I have forgotten. I'm rusty, but am hopeful that I can blow away the cobwebs and get back up to speed soon enough.

I have made a couple of New Year's resolutions regarding photography. The first is to get back into the metaphorical saddle and start a new photo a day project, which I've chosen to call Project365. This will enable me to get familiar with my camera once more, and "get my eye back" and learn to see creatively once again. The second of my resolutions is to have an image published this year. Before our daughters were born, I was fortunate enough to have several of my images published in various UK photography magazines. The feeling of seeing one of my shots in print is amazing, and I want to experience that again, and soon!

My first photo in the project is one close to my heart. Her name is Tiffany, and I got her from Santa Claus the Christmas I was 7. Thank you Mom and Dad for making sure I had my heart's desire that year (as every year). She is a Cabbage Patch Kid, and she went virtually everywhere with me. How I loved her! Because she was so important to me, I wanted to make sure my daughters had the chance to love her too. Tiffany was followed by 3 more CPKs and each daughter received two of them this Christmas from Mommy and Daddy. Alyssa, our eldest, is so besotted with her two that they MUST sleep in her bed every night. I am delighted that she feels the way I did about them. Christmas Treasure indeed.