Here are my contributions to the twelfth AND FINAL month of Project 365.
Springtime is definitely an amazing time to take pictures and revel in the beauty of creation. That's probably the main reason I started this project, exactly a year ago tomorrow! I can hardly believe I'm finished - I look back through my pictures and they remind me of how much we've done and enjoyed in the past year. It's been a truly wonderful year - I have so much to be thankful for.
I really enjoyed this past month, it's a month of new beginnings and April is always a special month to me, because in April 2008, 3 years ago, we received our referral for our very special girl, little Lilah Grace. It most certainly was a wonderful new start for us, as a family of three. It was December before we were able to travel to China and hold her, but it still felt like she was a part of us that day we received her photo and saw her face for the first time. God is good.
I did have a pretty big problem in the middle of photographing this month though! The shutter gave up on my 2½ year old camera, in fact, the technician told me it broke right off! I think it would be safe to say it has more to do with the amount of pictures I take, than the cameras age! So I took it to a camera shop downtown to get the shutter replaced. Needless to say, living without it was rather tough!
So that's it, for Project 365.
Oh, and I haven't decided on a new photography project yet. I was thinking of maybe doing something like a set of 'Friday Favourites' or a set of 'Monthly Memories'. I'm not too sure and to be honest, I really haven't given it a lot of thought. But one thing is sure, I'll still be taking plenty of pictures!
Here are my contributions to the eleventh month of Project 365.
March was another busy fun-filled month. I certainly enjoyed photographing my way through the past month, maybe that's because it's officially spring and finally starting to warm up a tad. Or, maybe it has to do with buying a new lens this month! It certainly helped a lot and gave me the little photography boost that I needed! I was even excited about taking pictures and learning the new lens.
It's hard to believe that I only have another 30 days left of this project. I'm trying to figure out what I'll do next? I'm not planning on taking on another daily project right now, but I'd like to take on a weekly challenge or something. Let me know if you're participating in or if you've heard or seen any fun ones. Here's a few I've seen and heard of, and some I've even participated in...
Lisa from 'The Long Road to China {and Back}' does a weekly Black & White Wednesday challenge, which is great - I'm going to try joining in with her a bit more. Also, another of my favourite blogs, 'And Lily Makes Three' participates in a crayon box challenge called 'Project 64 - Out of the Box', which looks like a lot of fun. And then there's 'I Heart Faces' and their weekly challenge, which is a bit more of a competition though.
Here are my contributions to the tenth month of Project 365.
We've had a lot of fun times in this short month of February. But let's be honest, I am so ready for spring! And according to our Ontario groundhog, it's going to be early this year?! I say that as huge snow flakes are falling out of the sky at this very second - in fact, they've been falling for a few hours now! That being said, I already notice the daylight hours are lengthening. And that makes me super happy!
I've had a few peeps ask me about the mosiacs I create each month - like the one below. It's really easy! I use a free online application on the Big Huge Labs website. Big Huge Labs is also linked up with Flickr, where all my photos are uploaded, but it isn't necessary to have a flickr account, just handier! There are lots of fun toys you can play around with on the website, I use the 'mosiac maker'. You can customize your mosiac to your own specific requirements, by the number of rows and columns, etc. When it's complete I then upload it to Flickr and add the border & text using the Picnik application. I hope you find it as easy to use as I do! And if you have any questions, just shout.
Here are my contributions to the ninth month of Project 365.
You know, I'm really starting to enjoy this Project 365. I was looking through all my past photos today and just about every photo I've taken has a memory that goes along with it. They remind me of that particular day or event, sometimes I can even imagine being there - it is amazing! And even more wonderful for someone like me, who is rather forgetful, in my young age! Heh!
I was surprised at how bright this months pictures are. I imagined the winter would be dark and dismal, but throw a lot of ice and snow in there and I guess it goes without saying that they're sure to be bright! The winter photography is definitely proving to be easier than I originally anticipated.
I added a label to the bottom of all my 365 posts, called '365'. If you click on that label, it'll show all my previous posts for Project 365.
Here are my contributions to the eighth month of Project 365.
What an easy month to take pictures and a hard month to decide which ones to use! I thought the winter months were going to be harder, but December certainly wasn't one of those months. With Christmas and our three week holiday in Ireland, it didn't take a whole pile of encouragement to pull out the camera. I once said I loved the Autumn more than any other season, but Winter has so many fabulous aspects to it too.
Where is the time going? I only have another 120 pictures to take and that's it!
Here are my contributions to the seventh month of Project 365.
I really feel like I'm losing a little bit of interest in this project. I just feel like I don't get outdoors nearly as much now. And well, I feel bored with my photography at the moment, predictable and boring. Eek, and it's only November yet! Hopefully Ireland next month will help pull me out of this dull photography funk!
I'd love a flash for my camera and I think that'll be my next purchase. I really want it for more indoor action shots of Lilah playing - now that she's got her new playroom! We have very low lighting in our house and unless I'm next to a window, I get a lot of blur. I refuse to use the pop-up flash on my camera, it just doesn't do my photos any justice, at all!
Anyway, does anyone else have a Canon and use an external flash? If you do, I'd love to hear what you think of it. Or even if it isn't a Canon, I'd still like to know how much you use the flash and how much better your pictures are from using it. Thanks so much!
Here are my contributions to the sixth month of Project 365.
Wow, 6 months down, 6 months to go! I am half way there!
It's been a month of pumpkins, hot drinks, beautiful fall colours and cupcakes. And the second last day of October brought snow. SNOW? In October? I am none too happy about that! Lilah Grace, on the other hand, was quite thrilled! I'll guarantee you, she'll be happy to see the end of it by the time March rolls around, that's for sure! Just as well we bought that nice warm winter coat this month. Now if only we could migrate to a warmer climate like the Canada Geese!
Here are my contributions to the fifth month of Project 365.
Aren't each of the seasons wonderful? They have a way of not letting us get bored with life! There are so many dramatic changes during the month of September. Like going from sandals to boots, from swimsuits to sweaters, etc. There is something about September that I really love, maybe I just enjoy change. I love the wardrobe changes, the beautiful change of colours, the change in our menu, warm soups and stews... I could go on. I really do appreciate the early fall.
Anyway, I seem to say this a lot, but it was a crazy busy month and to be completely honest, there are a lot of 'fillers' in here. Yep, I had to fill up the gaps of my non-photography days! I wish I could have had my camera out every single day, but unfortunately I haven't had the time. And I also can't believe how quickly the days are getting shorter. Man oh man. Now that's a change I'm not so fond of!
Here's hoping I can do better photographing my way through the month of October!
Here are my contributions to the fourth month of Project 365.
I love the month of August and it's hot lazy summer days. We spent a week in the beautiful province of Nova Scotia this month - so there are some fabulous memories in this set. There were days from our vacation that I had such a hard time choosing just one photograph, but then when we came home I had quite a different problem - I felt a little pictured out! Oh well, I scraped a few from different days and it all came together.
Here are my contributions to the third month of Project 365.
July is such a beautiful month, there are so many amazing things to capture in these summer months - I'm simply spoilt for choice. Sure there's the odd day that I don't get a chance to pull out my camera and capture something, but then there are other days that I capture so many memories that I can't decide which one to use! I try to choose a photo that will remind me of what happened or what we did on the day. There are also times that I just fall in love with a picture and I have to use it because it is so special to me.
I used my point & shoot for several of the shots, but for the most part I used my dSLR.
Here are my contributions to the second month of Project 365.
This project is definitely getting a little easier. I wouldn't say I'm getting any more creative though and I had planned to use more settings on my camera, but I'm not doing that either... unfortunatley! I'll have to step up my game one of these days soon!
I have used my new point and shoot for a few of the pictures. They certainly aren't the same quality, but it is nice to have it with me so I can photograph moments that I otherwise would never capture. Like Lilah on her last visit to CHEO - I would be just too embarrassed to carry a big camera into a public area like the hospital, so it was nice that I had the tiny one in my purse. It is proving to be quite valuable!
My first month of Project 365 is done-over-finished-complete! Phew!
This project is more work than I first expected. I don't carry my camera with me everywhere I go, even though you might think so with the amount of pictures I take! Really I don't. And honestly, I really don't want to either!
I said this project wasn't going to be all about Lilah, but it's kinda hard to be creative and different, so there is a lot of Lilah in there. I don't mind that though, she was my first inspiration for photography and still is! Although I must admit, I kinda like how the flowers cooperate for me - without bribery!
Data shows that it takes 21 days to successfully form a new habit, so maybe this will get easier... Heh!
It goes without saying that I love taking pictures. But, I have a lot to learn. So here goes taking a picture every day for three hundred and sixty five days, otherwise known as 'Project 365'.
I'm going to try and not make this all about Lilah. Okay, who am I kidding? Seriously, I'm hopefully going to try some new things. Possibly different to what I do now and hopefully it will help me develop and try out some different settings on my camera.
Rather than add them to my already busy blog, I have organized a set in flickr. The link is in my header bar above. I also hope to put each months pictures into a mosaic and post them on my blog on the last day of each month, again, hopefully. We'll see how it goes!
And since I'm starting today, this beautiful first day of May, here's my first capture.
