A Photo a Day for 365 Days is harder than it sounds

Yesterday I produced the final image of my 365 days, photo a day, project. I am including a few of the highlights in this post, but I would be lying if I said I really like the quality of everything that I produced throughout an entire year of shooting a photo a day. None the less, I will provide a link to the set that contains all 365 images at the bottom of this post so you can see everything.

I came, got a shave and a woman, and left this town... On my METAL STEED
- Photo by Eric Courtney

The image above was the last image of the year long effort, and I made a pretty solid effort to do something fun that would cap off the project with a celebration of sorts. If you click on the image, you can read about the setup on my Flickr Stream. I will summarize quickly by saying that the shot almost didn't happen, and that it was fun sneaking around in the corner of a darkened, somewhat-popular, intersection in Sacramento.

Rain On Saturn
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Rusty Old American Dream
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Bela Bel Air
- Photo by Eric Courtney

There is a common trend with 365 projects right now that they should only be self portraits. While I am not handsome, or presumptuous, enough to keep my interest for 365 self portraits, I chose to go the direction of how I view the world in an artistic sense. I think it breaks things up a little better, and I really think it helped simplify the project. I captured shots of many different things throughout the year. Everything from cars, models, lightning strikes, and fireworks to the extremely mundane lines and textures of ordinary objects around us that we often overlook on a daily basis. A lot of the captures I loved. Many of them not so much.

Regardless of the philosophy behind the approach of committing to the project, it is a hard commitment to keep. I wanted to quit many times throughout the course of the project, but thank goodness I had a lot of support from friends and online fans who fueled my desire along the way. This project was a burden in my life at many times throughout it's coarse, and a lot, A LOT, of the images reflect that part of my life. I can not even tell you how many times I snapped a photo at 11:45 in the evening, of the most meaningless object, just to fulfill my obligation to complete the project. If you are reading this, and you have taken on this project and completed it, I have nothing but pure, and undiluted, respect for you. Those of you who have started and given up can relate to the difficulty involved.

Vicious Betty's
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Xue Vue and The Mighty Pacific
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Naomi in the Depths of Preston Castle
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Naomi and Menace pose for a promotional flyer
- Photo by Eric Courtney

During this journey, I made many friendships. A few of the most notable above. These people had a profound impact in my life over the last year, and I am beside myself that I was able to connect in a way that would help me learn, improve my quality of work, and the best part is... They were contributors to my 365 project directly.

I also got to meet and work with some amazing models over the course of the year and most of them are a lot of fun and great people to be around. Some (definitely not all) of my favorites below. As you can see, I try to keep things fun.

Three Hot Rockers
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Sonja Renee - Pop King Diva
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Dahlia Blue Rocks
- Photo by Eric Courtney

Mary Nguyen - Leap of Rock!
- Photo by Eric Courtney

While I didn't dedicate my entire project to the self portrait, I did take my fair share over the year. Sometimes it felt like the last option. I am going to be posting a blog about self portraits in the near future, so I will only show a couple of the many I created this last year. The two below were special because they were at major milestones during the project. 100 days, and 300 days.

100 Day Milestone
- Photo by Eric Courtney

300 Day Milestone
- Photo by Eric Courtney

I could easily continue writing about the many things I covered in a year, but I think I have gone on long enough. This past 365 days was definitely an experience. One that I am glad that I committed to, but one I will never try to duplicate again. It is very important to set goals for yourself, and I am proud that I was able to reach this one. In the future, my goals will be bigger, but on a much more productive level. I have ideas, and I look forward to having complete creative freedom to tackle them soon.

Now as I Promised... Here is the link to all 365 images: My 365 Flickr Set

Sacramento Photographer
Sacramento Photography Examiner