Frozen in Time

Okay, for those of you who are going to join in the Project 365 Posse this year (even if it’s just on a weekly basis), it’s time for the first weekly photo topic!

Since tomorrow we will be “ringing” in the New Year, this week’s topic is: “Bells”!

Use the topics in any way you want. Take a different picture of the topic each day, just use it on days when you don’t have anything else to photograph, do a collage of bells for the week, or whatever you want to do. The topic is just a suggestion to help you in your goal of taking 365 days of photos this year! And be creative - you don’t have to be literal in your interpretation of the topic!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the beginning of my Project 366. Yep, I’m going to aim to photograph every day of the leap year. If you’re taking on Project 365 this year, you can go for 366 too, or you could use that extra day as a day off whenever you need it during the year. The most important thing is to have fun. So if you miss a day, don’t stress, just take two pictures another day. It’s not a contest, it’s just a project, and sometimes life gets in the way. However, if you do complete the project with a photo for every 365 days, I’ll email you a specially designed Posse completion certificate at the end of the year. (Although you’ll have to remind me, because I will totally forget!)

It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon! I’ll get the Posse links up in the next day or two and if you’d like your link listed in the 365 Posse and you haven’t told me already, just let me know in comments!

Okay, so I’ve pretty much sucked at posting a picture every day since I finished Project 365. It’s actually been a really nice break not to feel obligated to post every day. However, I’ve also gotten really lazy about taking photographs, and while that’s okay for a couple of months, it’s not okay in general.

So, I’m going to take up the Project 365 torch yet again in 2008. Yes, you may say I’m crazy. And I probably am. But there it is. My husband actually agreed with me because I am making a book of my first Project 365 and he thinks it’s a precious remembrance of our life. So, after about a 2 1/2 month break, on January 1, I’ll be starting all over again. Posting here may be sporadic for the rest of the month, but in January I’m jumping back into the deep end.

So, I have a challenge for all of you out there. Let’s make a Project 365 Posse. If you’ve started the project and given up on it, but want to try again (you CAN do it!), start with me on January 1! If you did it this year and are almost finished, but think you might want to do it again, well join the Posse!

To help you on those days when you get stuck for a photo idea, I’m going to come up with weekly topics that you can use to help you take pictures for the week. It might be a color or a verb or a noun or an abstract concept. Who knows? (And please, please, feel free to leave me some comments with ideas I can use because I don’t know if I can come up with 52 different ideas!)

Since I’ve completed one year of Project 365, I’m going to challenge myself to take less random photos this year - as in try and take more well thought out photos rather than the “oh my god I don’t have a photo so I will take a picture of the clock” type photos. That’s just me, though. If you want to take random photos, by all means, do it! It’s your project after all. I’m just trying to challenge myself a little bit differently this time.

Anyway, all of you who want to jump in and join my Project 365 Posse, I will make a separate little linky list there in the sidebar just for you! And one of my goals is that I will try and link back to your photos that are especially cool whenever I can. So what say you photo friends? I know some of you out there are still finishing up this year, but think about it. And if you’re game, leave me a comment and I’ll start the linky love list. And hey, if you miss a day? You miss a day. Life happens. Just post two photos the next day. Try to do it on a daily basis, sure, but more importantly, just see if you can get through the year, day by day, month by month. It will be over before you know it! And then do what I’m doing - make a book of your Project 365. What an awesome remembrance!

Oh, and since this is a photo blog and everything, here’s a photo of Little Girl being sung to at her birthday party…

Where does the time go?

Taken January 2, 2005; December 2, 2005; December 2, 2006; December 2, 2007.

Taken November 26, 2007.