Project 365: 150 days down, 215 to go

Holy crap, I’ve been doing this picture-a-day thing every. single. day for 150 days and I haven’t missed one yet. Who’d’ve guessed it?

The nice thing about Project 365 in the summer time is that just about anywhere you point your camera there are lovely colours and light just begging to be photographed. Like these pansies:

148:365 Pansies

Even on a rainy day, peonies are pretty:

150:365 Wet peony

I’m particularly pleased with the peony because it was the big fat raindrops that caught my attention in the first place, but they didn’t come through in the image straight out of the camera. But I’ve learned enough about Photoshop in the past few months to know that if I sharpened the heck out of it, those raindrops would pop out, just like they did to the naked eye.

This is how the next one came to be:

Tristan: "Hey Mom! Wanna see me jump off the top of the monkey bars?"

Me, visions of the waiting room at the children’s hospital in my head: "No!"

Tristan: "Why not?"

Me: "Because it’s dangerous and I don’t want you to hurt yourself."

Tristan: "Awwwwwww!"

Me, remembering that there is a June is for Jumping group on Flickr and that I still don’t have a picture for today, "Actually, you know what? Just let me go get my camera…."

149:365 Jump!

(Speaking of mad photoshopping skillz, I accidentally left the ISO way too high and overexposed the shot, but I loved the expression on Tristan’s face so much that I wanted to find a way to make the image work so I processed the heck out of it. I used one of the Pioneer Woman’s actions – I think it was ‘vintage’ – but it was too harsh, so I dialed the opacity down to 50%, and I really like how it came out.)

And this one? Well, what can I say, I just love those toes!

145:365 Grassy feet

This is from the same afternoon. It’s not an official 365 shot, but it’s a moment worth admiring, no? I love it when I sneak up and find them being adorable.

145c:365 Brothers on the swing

Speaking of adorable… I like this picture for the look of intense concentration on Simon’s face, and because of the story behind what he’s doing. Simon is one of only two boys invited to a Princess party this weekend, and he’s been asked to dress as Prince Charming. (I know. Couldn’t you just die of the sweetness?) The closest we could come was a tiara and a Darth Vader cape (don’t ask me why in a house with three boys we had a tiara) and Beloved put his foot down and said no son of his was going to a party wearing a tiara. (Sheesh!) So yesterday, Beloved came home with a crown-making-kit. Simon enjoyed making his own so much that he decided to make and decorate a crown for the birthday girl as well. So sweet! Five is a lovely age.

150b:365 Prince Simon

Project 365 is about memorializing a year in pictures in addition to improving my photographic eye (and mad photoshopping skillz!) and this picture simply captures the official first day of summer: the first day it was nice enough to swim in our friends’ pool. (Friends with pool = favourite friends!) It’s called Lukey’s Boat!

146:365 Lukey's Boat

Darn, I was doing so well with the segues, but I got nothing for this one. They’ve started this cool new service in Ottawa where you can rent a bike from one of four downtown locations and return your rental to any of the other stations. How awesome is that? I haven’t tried it out yet, simply because it’s either been pouring rain or I’ve forgotten to bring my helmet, but there’s a station right by my office. From a technical perspective, I like this photo because of the repeating pattern, because of the way the top and side borders have almost exactly the same amount of space, because of the way it fills the frame, and because the bit of repeating red really seems to pop against the otherwise neutral colours.

144:365 Bixi bikes

Last but not least, and also without a workable segue, this is my favourite picture of the week. I like the textures, the chipped paint and the worn wood, and how they contrast against the softness of the fingers. I think the strong diagonal lines draw your eyes right through the frame, but the little fingers stop you dead. (Edited to add: oh, and I just realized that this picture made it into Flickr’s fickle “Explore”, too. Yay!)

147:365 Fingers

It’s actually the bar of an emergency exit door in a restaurant, where Lukey was wandering out his twitchies while Beloved and the big boys waited for the bill. Lesson? Always, always have your camera handy!

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

5 thoughts on “Project 365: 150 days down, 215 to go”

  1. I’m always amazed by the lighting in the pictures… even in the first pic (which is my fave thus far), it’s sooo beautiful. I had no idea you processed so much on the jump shot… btw, how many takes did it take to get it that nice? Every jump shot I’ve tried has ended up blurry.

    Congrats on making it to 150. Have you thought about next year?

  2. Thanks Ari! Does your camera have a “sports” mode? You might try using that, if you haven’t. It will use a faster shutter speed, that will help you freeze the jump action. Also, try jumping in super-bright light, like outside daylight, or maximize your inside light. Blurry jumps can be fun, tho, too — it shows the motion in a different way.

    I wonder sometimes what I’ll do next year. Depending on the day hour, the answer is “Continue the project, of course! Project 730 here we come!” or “I’ll be so relieved to be done with the damn thing that I won’t pick up the camera for a month!!”

  3. You have a fantastic eye – we have to meet up sometime for your lunchtime wanders so I can watch your photography in action…

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