Project 52: Week 1 Resolutions

Happy New Year!!

I love the new year! It’s a time to reflect on all the things that happened over the past year, and decide what you want to keep and what you want to change. Of course, you can change at any time, but there is something about a fresh start at the beginning of the new year. I’m usually bad at making resolutions, not because I don’t keep with them (although I tend to have problems with that as well), but more because they are too vague.

Last year my resolution was to basically take more pictures. To achieve this I decided to do a 365 project, where I would take a picture a day for the whole year. I think I did pretty well, actually, I made it well into August, about 150 days. That’s when I got really busy with the move, and it stopped being fun. I realized my pictures weren’t saying anything, except for maybe that I was being lazy. I took pictures of my washing machine or trees, and while they looked cool, the pictures never really spoke to me. As I was reflecting on what was wrong with my project last year, I decided that I’m not just a photographer because I have a camera and I can take a nicely lit photo or throw some filters on it, I’m a photographer because I have something to say, and I want to convey feelings with my photos. That’s the reason we take photos right? Because in that moment we feel something that we want to remember.

So, that’s my resolution this year: to say something with my photos, to convey a feeling, and make something meaningful. Yes, I’m going to tie it to another photo challenge, this time only once a week, because it will give me more time to set up shoots and really decide what I want to say. Each week will have a theme, and I’m going to try to post it every week on Monday. I’ll explain kind of why I took each photo and than I’d really love to hear what you guys think of the photo.

This weeks theme was resolutions which is pretty generic, and I didn’t want to just take a picture of pictures or something weird like that. My husband and I were on vacation this week and went exploring in the town of Needles, CA. There’s pretty much nothing in this town, and that’s why I love it! They have all these old timey places right on Historic Route 66. I just had to get my camera out because I feel like it really just transports you back in time to a different era when you drive through old cities like that. It makes me think of calmer times and really just want to slow down and appreciate all I have.

This is part of an ongoing project, where I will be posting one a week. You can see all my posts for my 2015 Project 52 here.