[ travel photography ]

A Good Year

As previously announced, and subsequently amended, I’ve been taking at least one picture per day for the span of a year.

Today, “A Year in the Life” comes to an end.

You can check out the full project here, along with a nifty map of all the exotic places I’ve been:

A mari usque ad mare

I won’t say that the whole thing’s made me some sort of photography wizard, but at the very least it got me taking more pictures. I used to be put off at the thought that people might look over my shoulder at whatever I’m shooting and judge me thereby (and I’m sure I’m not the only one); other times, I would think to myself “Well, that would make a good picture,” but be so wrapped up in my schedule that I wouldn’t actually take those overly precious seconds to stop and shoot. Forcing myself to take at least one picture per day gave me a reason to abandon these bad habits—when you need the shots, other considerations drop down the priority queue. Shoot first, ask metaphysical questions later.

Of these 365 photos, some are obviously better than others; likewise for the corresponding days, among which were scattered a few low points. All told, however, I think the positive outweighed the negative in both cases. So I think I can at least raise a glass to that.

The last picture may look a little bit familiar. What can I say, I’m a fan of T.S. Eliot’s Little Gidding:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

It’s been a pretty good year.