This will be my third year doing Project 365. Everyday, I make sure that I take at least one photo. A big part of the challenge last year was keeping up with organizing and posting my photos. I still have a few months of photos to post for 2011!

This year, I’m working on two 365 projects. One with my DSLR camera and one with my iphone. The iphone 365 is so easy to do, especially because there is an app for it! Project 365 makes it super easy to organize your 365 photos as you go along. At the end of the month you can download the collage of all your photos. I love it.

If you’re on Instagram (I am make_something on Instagram), you may have noticed people posting photos all month with the hashtag #janphotoaday. Chantelle created a fun challenge that gives you a theme to use everyday. Happily she will be doing a new challenge each month. Here is February’s challenge. Having the daily theme keeps things really interesting and I love seeing everyone’s version of the same idea.

p.s. I just added ANOTHER photo challenge to my roster. This one is #febphotoskill. Check out the daily details here. You would think I had nothing to do all day, but these little challenges make me feel creative in the midst of my busy work days!

1. 365 : 32, 2. 365 : 33, 3. 365 : 34, 4. 365 : 35, 5. 365 : 36, 6. 365 : 37,
7. 365 : 38, 8. 365 : 39, 9. 365 : 40, 10. 365 : 41, 11. 365 : 42, 12. 365 : 43,
13. 365 : 44, 14. 365 : 45, 15. 365 : 46, 16. 365 : 47, 17. 365 : 48, 18. 365 : 49,
19. 365 : 50, 20. 365 : 51, 21. 365 : 52, 22. 365 : 53, 23. 365 : 54, 24. 365 : 55,
25. 365 : 56, 26. 365 : 57, 27. 365 : 58, 28. 365 : 59

I really like the look of February. Lots of stitching and quilting happening.

Here are two more photos of the same subject, different days. The second photo below is one of my favourites from this year.

365 : 335 | 365 : 336 | 365 : 336 | 365 : 337 | 365 : 338 | 365 : 339 | 365 : 340 | 365 : 341 | 365 : 342 | 365 : 343 | 365 : 344 | 365 : 345 | 365 : 346 | 365 : 347 | 365 : 348 | 365 : 349 | 365 : 350 | 365 : 351 | 365 : 352 | 365 : 353 | 365 : 354 | 365 : 355 | 365 : 357 | 365 : 358 | 365 : 359 | 365 : 360 | 365 : 361 | 365 : 362 | 365 : 363 | 365 : 364 | 365 : 365

Happy New Year! I spent the first day of the year organizing the last three months of my 365 project from 2010. YAY! I almost can’t believe I completed a full year of photos!

I am so excited that I have this record of 2010 and I’m going to continue the project for 2011. At the start of the project, it seemed pretty easy. I mean it takes only a second to take a photo, but some days it can be a real challenge to remember to do this. There were definitely many days where I looked at the clock at 10pm, 11pm, even 11:45pm and grabbed my camera and took a quick shot of something. Some days there was only one picture to choose from, some days there were dozens and it was hard to choose just one. Some days you think you know what your photo will be of and then it doesn’t happen.

I felt like I really improved my photography this year and I definitely want to continue that. My main goals for the project this year are 1. to avoid last minute photos as much as possible by making an effort to shoot earlier in the day, 2. to take more people shots (I find this so hard!) 3. try new photo techniques on a regular basis, 4. post my photos once a week.

It’s fun to look at all the pictures from the year together. Take a peek here!

It feels pretty good to have a fresh new year up ahead. I just took a peek at my new year’s post from last year and I’d say all of those goals are continuing into this year.

I’m looking forward to spending another year with you!

p.s. I have some fun new projects up my sleeve that will be revealed very soon.

365 : 305 | 365 : 306 | 365 : 307 | 365 : 308 | 365 : 309 | 365 : 310 | 365 : 311 | 365 : 312 | 365 : 313 | 365 : 314 | 365 : 315 | 365 : 316 | 365 : 317 | 365 : 318 | 365 : 319 | 365 : 320 | 365 : 321 | 365 : 322 | 365 : 323 | 365 : 324 | 365 : 325 | 365 : 326 | 365 : 327 | 365 : 328 | 365 : 329 | 365 : 330 | 365 : 331 | 365 : 332 | 365 : 333 | 365 : 334

365 : 274| 365 : 275| 365 : 276| 365 : 277| 365 : 278| 365 : 279| 365 : 280| 365 : 281| 365 : 282| 365 : 283| 365 : 284| 365 : 285| 365 : 286| 365 : 287 |365 : 288| 365 : 289| 365 : 290| 365 : 291| 365 : 292| 365 : 293| 365 : 294| 365 : 295 |365 : 296 | 365 : 297 | 365 : 298 | 365 : 299 | 365 : 300 | 365 : 301 | 365 : 302 | 365 : 303 | 365 : 304

365 : 244 | 365 : 245 | 365 : 246 | 365 : 247 | 365 : 248 | 365 : 249 | 365 : 250 | 365 : 251 | 365 : 252 | 365 : 253 | 365 : 254 | 365 : 255 | 365 : 256 | 365 : 257 | 365 : 258 | 365 : 259 | 365 : 260 | 365 : 261 | 365 : 262 | 365 : 263 | 365 : 264 | 365 : 265 | 365 : 266 | 365 : 267 | 365 : 268 | 365 : 269 | 365 : 270 | 365 : 271 | 365 : 272 | 365 : 273

Here are a few of my favourites from the month of September… a self portrait in a reflection, my buzz saw quilt in action, glittery sidewalk and colourful natural dye pots.

365 : 213 | 365 : 214 | 365 : 215 | 365 : 216 | 365 : 217 | 365 : 218 | 365 : 219 | 365 : 220 | 365 : 221 | 365 : 222 | 365 : 223 | 365 : 224 | 365 : 225 | 365 : 226 | 365 : 227 | 365 : 228 | 365 : 229 | 365 : 230 | 365 : 231 | 365 : 232 | 365 : 233 | 365 : 234 | 365 : 235 | 365 : 236 | 365 : 237 | 365 : 238 | 365 : 239 | 365 : 240 | 365 : 241 | 365 : 242 | 365 : 243

I’m WAY behind on posting my 365 pictures. I’m still taking a photo a day, but have created a scary backlog of photos. I finally spent the day organizing things on my computer, sorting through a few months worth of photos and getting up to date.

August seems so far away, now that November is next week! I’m really going to try to make the next few months of photos really great. I feel like I haven’t been trying as hard recently.

Here’s a short list of things to take photos of and techniques to try before the end of the year – laundromat photo, photo of a someone I don’t know, freelensing, animal photo (not a dog), action shot & more shaped bokeh.

I had a question yesterday from Shelley about how I took this shot. I’ve been meaning to tell you that I recently got a remote control for my camera. I had a remote for my SLR camera years ago and it came in so handy.

Previously I had used the timer on my camera to take shots that I was in, like this or this. I found this to be a bit tricky because you need to have something in the frame to focus on. This is difficult, if you’re by yourself and shooting against a white wall. The other thing you can do is position yourself within arm’s reach of the camera. Also pretty limiting.

I got the remote about a month ago and you may have noticed that I’m changing up locations for my clothing photo shoots. In this photo, I used a tripod in my backyard. But very soon, you’ll see shots of me in High Park, on the West Toronto Rail Path, who knows where! Most of the time, I just find a bench, table, tree stump or other suitable object to put my camera on. Once in a while, I actually take my tripod along. At any rate, I’m getting much better natural lighting, more interesting shots and having way more fun creating these photographs.

The great thing about the remote is that there are two settings. The first setting has the camera taking a photo as soon as you press the button. This is great if you are trying to reduce shake on your camera, rather than pushing the camera’s button. (especially in low light situations) The second setting has a timer, giving you time to hide the remote and position yourself within the frame. With the remote, you can focus the camera from a far distance.

The remote came with a handy little pocket that slides onto my camera strap. The pocket is black and rather ugly, so you may be seeing a customized and cute remote pocket very soon!

It didn’t rain on Sunday! The Yard Sale Trunk Show was so much fun. For the first time we had vendors out in the backyard, which made the show feel more spacious. Kessa brought along a tent, just in case of rain and it fit perfectly on the patio.

The highlight for me was Celine’s outdoor photobooth. I approached Celine a little while ago with the idea and wondered if it might be something she would like to try. Little did I know that she would take the idea and make more marvelous than I could have imagined. Celine worked with Rosalyn to create the sunny yellow backdrop. Now I’m in love with yellow! The night before the show, Celine & Jin arrived with a box of tools and worked to rig up the backdrop, a cute wooden ‘photos’ sign, and string to drop the lights and fabric bunting from. All their hard work totally paid off. For fun props, we used cute cardboard diamonds that Rosalyn made and super sour lemon candies that Celine brought.

All the photos have been posted here on flickr. They are all so wonderful, happy and funny. I have already spent hours looking through them all.

We asked for donations towards Sketch for the photobooth and we raised $155 dollars. the workroom will be matching the amount and sending a cheque for $300 to this great organization. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to have their photo taken and making it such a huge success.

Celine, you are amazing. Thank you for your sunny disposition and hard work. Best. Photobooth. Ever!

To christen the new camera, I had to make a camera strap for it. Or rather, recover the Nikon strap that came with it. I really loved my old camera strap in Zain Liberty of London. Rather than remake that one (which I considered), I thought it best to have a fresh start with a fresh new fabric. I knew the fabric needed to be rather dark, as it would probably get a bit dirty. The reproduction fabric I chose from the Regency Collection was the perfect fit. The print is so unusual and I love the mix of black with bits of odd pink, green and blue.

I had to refer to my original blog post about making my first camera strap to refresh my memory on just how to do it. This project is so easy and the results are totally satisfying. I love the final step of sewing through the strap around and around in concentric rectangles. I just used the edge of my presser foot as a guide for the spacing, which is why my sewing looks so straight.

I am now quite bonded with my new Nikon D90. It’s a heck of a lot of camera, so I have a lot to learn still. My latest discovery was learning to customize the picture controls. I keep the manual beside my bed, so I can dip into it before I fall asleep.