All or nothing

I hear many photographers, most are fairly new, talking about doing a 365 project this time of year. Many of these same photographers talk about photography being their passion. I’ve been there. A 365 project, one that takes a photo every single day for a year, is a massive project. What I have discovered from my experience at such a project, it wasn’t worth the effort and I’ll tell you why I believe this.

From my experience, I became so consumed with taking a photograph to put in my project that I resorted to just taking a photograph. The photograph became more important than quality. I’m sure there are a handful of photographers who could take a high quality photograph every single day. For most of us, it is setting us up for failure. There may be a day that you don’t feel well or you’re tired or it is busy with other aspects of life. Once you miss a day, your 365 is no longer a 365.

I’m not saying it isn’t possible. I’m saying that for many of us it is nearly an all or nothing project that from both my personal experience and the experience I have seen of others that sets us up for failing and burn out. Some of these same photographers who I have watched attempt such a project and talk about passion for photography have also disappeared from the photography world. Now, I don’t know if the 365 project lead towards the ultimate demise of their passion but it does make we wonder if the project may have contributed towards the cooling of their passion.

In my Facebook group, The Digitial Photography Forum, we run a challenge. The challenge started out as a weekly challenge but is now it runs every two weeks. I must admit even in my own group I miss fulfilling the challenges on a weekly basis, and have missed on bi-weekly basis. We can be passionate about photography and our artwork without going in all or nothing. Challenge yourself to grow but don’t set yourself up for failure. If you want a good project for the coming new year, join a group challenge, meet the challenges. By participating in group challenges, or a weekly project you can still take photos every day, but you are not compelled to committing to a using work that does not meet your standards or doing something every day all year long.