366

Three hundred and sixty six self portraits have now been posted to the internet, of me, by me.

That means a hell of a lot more have been taken.

I think on a few days, when I felt particularly bad, I took only one shot, just to get it done, but most of the time it took A LOT of shots to get one I was ready to post.

There have been a lot of self portraits taken this year. More than I have taken in my entire life before. Actually there might well have been more photos taken of me during the past 366 days than there have of me before that, period. I hate having a camera pointed at me.

Every single shot is significant to me. Each one tells me something about that day. Each one is a reminder.

I started it during the summer. I have a problem with summer.

NY Times article
LA Times article

It is severe, and it is very disruptive to my life. It makes it difficult for me to accomplish things and being productive is vital to my sense of well being. I decided to jump on the bandwagon when I noticed what Nige had started, because I thought that it would be one, small, not too time consuming thing, that I could DO everyday. That I could do during the days I didn't feel like I could do anything, at least I could check one thing off of my to do list.

I was certainly already aware of 365 projects (leave it to Nige to do it in a leap year so that we had to do an extra) but I knew that if I was doing it on flickr I would feel pressured (by myself, not others) to make it about the photographs. To make the shots with the DSLR. To take the time to edit them and get the colors right. I knew I would never have the time to do that on a daily basis for a year. I
might be able to take a shot a day*, maybe, but definitely not a self-portrait. Self portraits are the most difficult kind of photos for me to take. I was aware of 365 self portrait projects, and enjoyed viewing the work of others, but I had never considered doing one myself.

Then the dailyme parade started to appear on moblog and it seemed doable. I knew it would be difficult, but I had no idea how difficult it would be. It was so difficult. Really, on some days it was a major pain in the ass. It was rewarding though. I'm glad I did it. I feel like I've gotten to know myself better through it - as a face, as a body, as parts that make a whole, as a photographer and as a person.

I've been surprised by the number of people who fairly regularly dropped in to see my dailymes. I was more surprised by the people from my "real life" who could totally not be bothered.

So, I guess this is over and out. It has been quite a year.

*Actually, I completed a 365 project earlier this year, but none of it is public right now and this is actually the first time I've even mentioned it publicly, and it was not self portraits. It was kind of awesome and maybe I'll say more about it sometime.

So totally almost done.

So, this is a shot for July 1.

I took it on July 2. Sucks to mess up so close to the end, but I was
SO sick on July 1. I had some sort of miserable stomach thing and the
only shot I was going to get was of me being utterly miserable and I
just didn't want that because I had plans for my last two shots.

So - I skipped it. On purpose.

Myopic

I took a different photo to post for today, but then once I was finished getting ready for the party it occurred to me that another shot would be better for the project. This is me in full make up ready to go to a party. My hair isn't done yet, and I am not dressed yet, but the make-up is done. This is it. This is as good/fake as it gets.

So, 362 days have gone by, and in those days I've done the full make-up deal twice.

I guess that says something about something.

Home.

Tired.

Sick of the camera.

Sick of my face.

No pictures please.

Only a few more days.

Orange you glad it is almost over?

Reflection in the brightly colored Wild Animal Park tram. The bright color unfortunately did not encourage any animals to attack.

A day spent wandering around the zoo. Meerkats and warty pigs and
pandas. Oh my.