My 365 Experience

What a year its been!!! Some random thoughts in no particular order:

• Overall, I’m thrilled to have taken on this challenge and ecstatic over the fact that I completed it. It’s an accomplishment I’m proud of.
• Inspiration – Some day’s its soooooo difficult to find. It tends to come in spurts and you need to find it wherever you can. Some of my best inspiration and ideas came from my wife (Day 348), (Day 234), (Day 221), and (Day149) just to list a few of them. She deserves a massive thank you for her support, encouragement, and patience. Thank you Ana!
• It hasn’t always been easy, or fun, and there were times when I seriously contemplated just giving up (day 248). Getting past that was very hard. It was a costly mistake with the camera repair, replacement tripod, and filter. Enough for pocket wizards and then some.
• This is a time intensive, serious commitment. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I embarked upon the initiative, but I have only 1 regret – see day 248 above….
• Support and encouragement – This comes from many sources but my virtual community has been so important. Your comments, suggestions, and help have boosted my confidence, provided tutelage, inspiration, and a host of ideas. So thank you Alan, Lance, Tim, and so many others. Special thanks to my daughter Emily for allowing me to reuse her work and being my number 1 visitor.
• I feel that I am a better photographer then when I started.
• I’ve learned some lighting techniques and have come to really enjoy off camera lighting. I recognize the need to learn more techniques and approaches. I tend to repeat my approaches.
• Technique is more important than equipment. 85% of this is technique and 15% is equipment.
• Visit the DIY Photography and The Strobist sites regularly as they are an excellent source.
• I enjoy Photography 100 times more than Photoshop but you need some level of skill in Photoshop.
• I wish I had a studio, even a small quasi one because constructing and dismantling your setups on a daily basis is de-motivating.

WHAT’S NEXT

For tomorrow, I want to do a personal “best of“ series by month. I’ll pick 1 photo from each month and repost it.

Beyond that… I will continue and commit to another year. My primary goal is to do more with off camera flash and multiple units. I have the radio triggers, the speedlights, the light stand, and an assortment of other gadgets so why not put them to use. I fear that if I don’t continue all of these will simply collect dust. I’d like to get a softbox and other light modifiers so please make some recommendations.

BTW - we got 9 more inches of snow. NYC got 26...