I recently completed a project I called “365 Days of Julia." Between April 13, 2007 and April 12, 2008, I took a photo of myself each day*. It actually turns out to be 366 because of leap year, but who’s counting? Would you like to have a peek? You can view a composite poster or the photo set on Flickr. Viewing all the thumbnails side by side now makes me feel like a bit of a nut, but I'm pleased.



Seeing the project to its end has seemed like a feat in itself, and it is with relief that I remind myself the past few days that I no longer have to take a photo! Some additional thoughts about the project:

It’s harder than you might think not only to take a photo every day (I think I forgot about 6 times, so I took 2 the following day), but also to be inspired to take a new, different photo every day. *Some days I cheated and used a photo that someone else had taken of me. 365 done well means a lot of different poses, facial expressions, locations, etc. Many of my photos are simply a face from arm’s length, and a number of them are clearly uninspired, but on the other hand a few have become some of my all-time favorites.

Regrets? Foremost, I regret working on another 365-type project simultaneously. Many days, photo-taking became a chore, and I was not able to set aside time enough to compose a decent shot. I also wish I had better skills with composition and lighting, especially when compared to other 365 projects I’ve admired on Flickr. I would consider this project again, but only if I learned more about photography and felt I could truly improve on the first project.

[Edited to mention that I do recommend this to anyone who thinks it looks like fun. You'll never forget it, for better or worse, and when you're done you have a pretty cool visual log of a year of your life.]