-7 days: Questions to ask yourself before starting a 365

When I completed my first 365 I was full of relief that it was finally over, but I also wasn't happy with the end results of my year spent taking pictures. When I started, my "statement of purpose" for my project was "I want to show my kids some day what a year in my life was like." Turns out, that wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted to create photos that illustrated a narrative where I could dress-up and play a character. I was following my statement of purpose and becoming more and more burdened by the project as time past. There were ups when I would dress-up for the pictures and tell a story, but there were a lot of downs because I just wasn't doing what I really wanted. I was following my own rules, but I was bored and getting drained of creative energy. My favorite time of the project was Christmas-time (which was only two and a half months in to it!) because I dressed up and experimented with lights, with story telling, and camera angles. After Christmas, there wasn't anything I felt like I could dress up for, so I fell back into the hand shots and mirror pictures. 

For my second 365, I had a better idea of what I wanted to do. I came up with some themes ahead of time and felt a lot more confident going in. However, my statement of purpose was just to "keep myself busy/distracted while my husband is deployed." I didn't have a clear goal of what I wanted visually, just what I wanted the project to do for me. I knew I wanted to be more illustrative and artsy, but the themes I had planned were the opposite of that! I had a lot of "featuring this" sort of themes, which would have worked great for a documentary sort of project, but it wasn't what I wanted. I am much happier with the results of my second project, though, because I realized pretty quickly into it that I needed to change my game plan to get the results I wanted. It did also satisfy my purpose of keeping myself busy while my husband was deployed, but when he got home and we added another furry family member to our household, I couldn't prioritize my project like I had when John was gone and my confidence in my photos suffered because my creativity was basically shot.

This time I have a specific plan: I want my photos to be illustrative and portray a narrative. I have several themes for the year and intend to come up with more. When there isn't a specific theme, I hope that my photos reflect my personal photo style. In some ways I am still figuring out my personal style, but for now I have a few guideline questions to ask myself: Does this photo look like it has been tucked away for ages in an album found in an attic full of treasures? Does this picture look like an illustration from a fantastical story? If it doesn't, can I justify its existence in my portfolio?

Ask yourself what you want from your 365. Do you want to document a year in your life or do you want something different? There is nothing wrong with documentation, but make sure it is what you really want to do so you don't disappoint yourself later on. You don't need a lot of themes or mini-series within your 365 to have a fun and successful project, but the faster you figure out what you want from your 365 the more you will get out of it! I was too stubborn to give up on my first 365 even with being disappointed with myself for weeks on end, and even though I finished it, I felt like it was a failed experiment for a long time. A strong sense of purpose can make all the difference in the world.

P.S. Merry Christmas!