Resolution

It is now the middle of January when most New Year’s resolutions have been broken. Normally, at the beginning of the year, I have this boost of electron/synapse collaboration particularly between my organizational brain cells. I get all giddy about reorganizing my life, making what I already do more efficient and adding lots of other stuff to my life and fitting it in all that space and time I created after reorganizing everything else. I’m typically a realist, but along with all 7 billion other humans, realistic expectations fly out the window come the countdown and the dropping of the ball. Then 99% of the 7 billion humans actually do drop the ball and their resolutions end up a thing of the past, almost as quickly as the countdown to midnight took.

Not this year. I wasn’t and still don’t plan on disappointing myself. I didn’t even think about making any resolutions or “goals” this year. I know some of what this year holds and I’m not going to kid myself into thinking I can all the sudden add 50 things to my daily todo list and not feel let down.

What I have kept doing though is taking pictures every day. I started a Project365 last year and actually did take one picture every day. Except maybe one day, I think. Working on that throughout the year last year got me used to carrying around my camera or pulling out my phone and snapping pics–a lot of times, just to see how I could edit them in Instagram or Hipstamatic. It has already become more of my lifestyle.

So this year I am eager to continue that Project and  challenge my creative side. I’ve signed up for two Project 52s and a Project 12*. They will give me a prompt each week/month and I’ll try to end up taking a picture to suit the given theme. What I’m hoping is that my creativity will be tested and I’ll get better about thinking outside the box. Or even thinking within the box but taking a better picture of it. The cool thing about photography is the only way to get better is to practice.

That’s the cool thing about anything, isn’t it. The cool thing about photography is your practice can result in some awesome accidents where you actually do end up growing as a photographer picture taker. (I can’t bring myself to call myself a photographer).

So, in the end, I guess I technically am making a resolution. To be more creative with my picture taking and to attempt to keep up with these photo projects. I’ve given myself the ok to skip a week or month or two. There’s no prize for completing 100%. And I can pick up where I left off. Not like the exercise thing I’ve resolved to do in the past, where you can’t actually pick up where you left off, you have to kind of do some remedial exercise to get you back to where you left off.

*The Project 12 is MCP’s Project 12 and the theme of their first month is. . . resolution!
The Project 52s are LensProToGo’s Project52 and Paint The Moon’s Let’s Do 52.
If you want to do the Project 365 download the Project365 app.

NB – Why do I look like a complete spy in the photo above? I was heading outside to capture the snowfall and decided to see what I could capture in the mirror before I stepped out. I’m glad I had just painted my nails…