2015 - Reboot, and Prelude

A few years ago I was part of a lovely online community of amateur photographers in the late myOpera forums. Members of our group, named '365', were to take one picture, everyday, and put that picture up for all to see, on that same day, every day of the year, for 365 days. The group was lively and successful.

We documented our everyday lives and surroundings and exchanged generous feedback on our sometimes great, sometimes casual findings. From various corners of the globe we shared, in haphazard L2-3-4 English, a common love for the craft of photography and for the beauty that we saw in the world around us. I made many interesting connections and friendships there.

I don't recall making it through one whole year. The moderators (I eventually joined their ranks, albeit on paper) were friendly but keen on seeing the rules enforced, so a full week without pictures meant having your album taken down. But I did last many weeks and months, steadily going out and about with my camera, but also spending an hour everyday marveling at, and commenting on, my peers' wonderful pieces. I became more diligent about yielding a consistent creative output. I ventured in physical places I normally wouldn't have, to get my daily picture, and learned to look at things differently. I also taught myself the technical basics of photography and experimented a little bit, for instance with abstract, long exposure shots.

The myOpera forums were beautiful because they were free of use and free of ads. They most likely died because they were free of use and free of ads. I'd like to try the experiment here once again, except that this time I'm only committing for half a year, and I'll be writing from time to time, as well.