So I posted a sunset on Instagram last night, from my kitchen door, and asked which photo projects people were doing this year.
One lady said she was doing this fmsphotoaday thing. I don't even know who that is except I gather it's some famous blogging person (for the record, I don't need to follow even one more blogger - my goal is to unfollow!
I already follow Practising Simplicity, an Aussie mum, who hosts a weekly photo roundup where people post portraits of their children.
1. Basically it's one photo a week of your kid (s).
I like the simplicity (!) of choosing just ONE photo. And at the end of the year, you have 52 photos documenting their year.
Boom - easy does it.
What I currently do
I go about my month without thinking about this too much but in my final OCD organising, I select 4 photos of each kid for printing. That's it.
4 because that's what works in the album. Some months there have only been 2 pics of individual kids and then I'll add a Connor and Daddy, or Connor and Mummy pic :)
2. I choose pics that show the things they're doing, so they are not always the best smiley pics (matter of fact, I hate cheesy, smiling pics - if it's not natural, then give me a good scowl).
For instance, when they were in the extreme monkey stage, there are photos in both their albums of them climbing my burglar bars....
Why this project?
Well, I already get my four pics a month, but now I'm thinking of using the iphone to share those pics weekly on Instagram. I'm not mad... so they will still be taken with the big camera otherwise we'll never get a decent pic. My kids don't stay still.
I used to do a month in review with ONE pic summing up the month.
Then I did Project Life and it grew to 6 - 8 pics (I use a mini album with 80 photos) a month.
And somehow I stopped the 1 card summaries which, for me were the main thing - the month-at-a-glance.
So this year, the 1-card summaries are coming back.
3. This year, I'm going to continue my Project Life. Years ago when I was crazy (I would not pay those prices these days), I ordered Seafoam (about 4 months after ordering Turquoise), and at the time I also ordered 3 mini albums. I used the Rain one in 2013, the Kiwi one last year and this year I'm using the Midnight one.
Is anyone still doing Project Life?
(I have Nov and Dec to print - once I finish organising December - and then I'll show you. I do show one distant shot on Instagram when I finish a month. Have you seen them?)
So, over to you.
What are you doing with all those photos you guys are taking?
PS don't you wish Instagram had a thing where you could save a pic somewhere (as if published) but without bombarding your feed with 5 photos of the same thing? Or is that only me?
PPS I have my word! Hopefully I'll blog it nicely on the weekend. For now, I want to work on photos!
PPPS Amazingly, the friendship stats are unaffected. All 3 friend dates happened as they were meant to (makes my little J heart so happy!) :)
I do fmsphotoaday. You don't have to follow her blog to do it. It's quiet similar to the August break series except it is all year round. The prompts are very random - one month it was A is for .. B is for ... Some days are more exciting than others Yesterday was sky, today something yellow. Some people take it too seriously and stage pictures to get the best shots. But it is a good way to get pictures daily or weekly if you want with some kind of prompts to help one get a bit creative!
ReplyDeletewhat do I do with the pictures I take - I make photo books from some, print some for the grandparents, post some on IG the rest I keep for my own consumption as it would be great to look back on and see what life was at different times during the course of a past years.
For me, a photo challenge must be a non-regular thing, otherwise it's just a habit. I liked August break and December reflections although I have a few prompts to finish off :)
DeleteDefinitely no staging of pics for me!
The beauty of it is you only do it if and when it is convenient for you or you feel it!! Some months I did the entire month some months I do a few days. And the best thing is it gives you a prompt you might not ordinarily think would make a good picture. I did a 52 week challenge last year but it was for myself - took pictures of K every Monday the entire year
DeleteNow this is fun... I see dozens of photo-a-day type projects on instagram and heaps of incredible 365 day projects: Awesome sunrises, new faces every day and so on. I really wanted to do a 365 project of the very ordinary and totally doable variety... I didn't want to climb a mountain every single day or get up at dawn for that matter... So on the spur of the moment yesterday I decided to try a 365 photo... "the view from our deck"... In my head I have really anything taken from the deck, kids playing in the courtyard, mountains behind us and of course the sea. I think our followers expect 365 pictures of the sea... but I will have to change it up or get bored and fade away... I am just aiming for a month - then two and so on... Have to just see how it goes!!!
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I would love to know, and I keep meaning to ask you, how do you print out your pics... what are you using... Curiosity and it is time that I actually did something beautiful with our pictures...
Sending love as always - so enjoying your end of year wrap ups!!! Happy weekend to you and those sweet babes of yours!!!
All the best - 365 deck photos sound both amazing and overwhelming. I did a 365 project once and it nearly killed me :o
DeleteWhen the very kind folks at Epsom let me use Eileen (the big photoprinter), I go wild. Literally, any project I can think of because I'm just paying for the paper.
But normally, I print about 60 photos every 2 months at my local Foto First. (4 of each kid, 4 together, 8 project life and about 10 instagrams - my instagram printing tutorial is on the organising queen blog - http://takechargesolutions.org/blog/2014/09/29/how-to-print-instagram-photos-on-the-cheap/). It is more expensive than at-home printing but worth it if you don't have a super fancy Epson (which I really love) - about R180 because I wait til I have > 50 pics.
I am starting to print and make albums. I have A LOT of pictures to get through so it's a slow process. My husband is a hoarder of rubbish pictures (apparently it's a life lesson for him and he learns from his mistakes or whatever - sigh) and this makes deleting of pictures a lot harder.
ReplyDeleteHa. Just thinking now that I commented on your IG picture last night and here's a blog post about challenges. I am thinking of doing portrait a week this year. Will make a decision by tomorrow - I need to figure out how I'm going to pull this off.
I would NEVER do a 365 - too much pressure. And I only started doing FMS this week because it's now a weekly challenge instead of a monthly challenge that I know I wouldn't have been able to keep up with.
Hmmm, and when he learns his lesson, he deletes? :)
DeleteThank you for your amazing comment on IG.
I could do a monthly challenge easy, weekly I'm not sure but nobody's going to freak out except for us if we don't keep up, right?
ps...I think you might like Fat Mum Slim. She even has an app for the iphone!
ReplyDeleteI am not doing photo a day at all...never have either. I have resolved to carry my camera with me more often and record those everyday moments that we want to remember. I am also resolving to blog about my life more often...well until it becomes painful again...then I will withdraw into my shell until things get better....but you get my drift. I have words mulling in my head...but not a firm one yet. Will try to blog it on Monday.
ReplyDeleteIt's torturous for some of us - I found myself taking photos in bed a LOT... of the book, tea, blankets, etc. Very boring :)
DeleteThen again, when I did it, it was in the days when we used real cameras to take our pics so it was all a big schlep. I'd say if you carry your camera more, you're half way there :)
xxx
I am not doing any photo challenges, tried FMS a few times but I just found it to be taken way too seriously by some people who stage images to be chosen for her fab4 or whatever she calls it.
ReplyDeleteI take snaps of my kids or what happens in my life and then I post the ones I love to IG. I print some and put them up on my walls and this year I am thinking of doing some Printwild blocks for our bedroom.\
xxx
I'm doing the Myfourhens P52 project... every week is themed, lets see how I do with this one :)
ReplyDeleteEvery year I print a book with my images... although saying that I still have to do my 2013 book!