Wow, what a year! I have been a horrible blogger. So much has gone on and yet so little of it has been recorded in this blog. I started the year with the goal of doing a photo a day (project 365). I mostly succeeded on that one, but failed miserably at keeping the blog up-to-date with photos. I will keep that blog open and hopefully catch up! I have not yet decided whether I will do a project 365 in 2010. In fact, I’ve been thinking about my “word” for the year of 2010. In 2008 it was ‘create’ and in 2009 it was “explore.” I’m thinking that for 2010 my word will be “quality.” Part of my rationale for that word has to do with a certain level of frustration I felt this year in thinking I had to get so much done in terms of quantity. Like project 365… I had to take a photo a day, even if I didn’t feel like taking a photo or the resulting photo was total garbage. It didn’t matter if it was garbage, only that I took one. Late in the year I eased up a bit on that expectation because honestly it felt as though I were forcing things, and that was definitely NOT what I had intended. I intended to take on the project in an effort to improve my skills… but when it felt forced and created only garbage, it was hard to feel that my skills were improving. It only felt like a chore.
I also had set a monthly goal of creating 20 scrapbook layouts. Some months I failed horribly. (Like the month we moved!!) Other months were uber productive. But as the year went on, it started to feel like it was more about the number and not so much about the quality of what I was creating. True, I set a number as a goal, thinking that by doing more, I’d be more likely to strike gold once in awhile. However, I think that for the next year my goal will be not about volume or quantity but instead about taking the time to think through what I’m creating and approaching each work as though it were a masterpiece – whether it’s a scrapbook layout or a photo shoot. No need to take 100 pictures in hopes of getting one good one. Instead, I want to focus on doing more with less. (OK, I really dislike that phrase in the way it’s used in corporate America…) Which really means that I want to make sure that whatever effort I’m putting forth, I’m doing so from the perspective that I’m setting out to create quality instead of creating volume in hopes of finding something worthwhile in the heap. Basically, I want to improve my quality to crap ratio. :)
I thought I’d share some of my most recent scrapbook layouts. This was a self-portrait I set up one day when I was working from home. I’m sitting in the sunroom in my house. I am terrible about getting myself in photos, so this was an attempt to record part of my day-to-day life.
This next layout contains an image of Gianna I took one night while photographing some friends. Gianna wanted to have photos taken, too, so I snapped a couple of her. This one was a keeper. :) I wanted to try a technique of blending the photo into the paper.
At Thanksgiving, Gianna thought it would be appropriate to bake a cherry pie instead of traditional pumpkin or pecan. She was very insistent that we try a cherry pie. So I let her tackle the making of the pie! She rolled out the dough and poured the cherries in. She actually did quite a good job! Unfortunately, she realized she didn’t actually LIKE cherry pie, and she refused to eat any of it on Thanksgiving day!
I was busy wrapping up a year-in-review scrapbook to give to the grandparents, when I quickly took some snapshots of Jay and Gianna in Santa hats sitting by the Christmas tree. I thought this was a fun, seasonal layout to include here.
And finally, the year-in-review layout of Gianna. Each photo represents a month of the year… from her birthday in January to sitting by the Christmas tree in December.
Christmas has been very good here. I’m just amazed at how quickly this year has passed. So much has happened… the move to our new house, the sale of our old house. Gianna participating in soccer, t-ball, gymnastics, and dance. And so much more everyday stuff that has made this year so rewarding and exciting.
I’m busy refocusing my energies on new things for the coming year, too!
