At the beginning of the year, in my 2013 Intentions post, I pledged to do a 365 Project that involved taking a photo each day throughout year 2013, of or about me. I named this project Project 365 | Just Me.
April officially ends on Wednesday and so it's time for my monthly update on the JustMe project.
I have taken 21 photos as of today, and if I stay on track for the remainder of the month, I'll have missed 7 days in total. Most of these days occurred in the first half of the month, and if I'm honest, this shaky start prompted me to get through the rest.
Again, it was just a matter of paying attention and being aware that I was slowly falling off the wagon. Falling has definitely become easier, as has getting up again. I'm also getting a bit braver with some of my shots with less concern about whether I think I look good or not. It's all a matter of practice.
My focus and momentum is coming from the body of work created in placing all these individual shots together as well as the lessons I'm learning as a memory keeper and human being. There does not have to be an all or nothing approach to every project. There is much grey area in amongst the black and white. Sometimes what you can and are doing is enough. Perhaps it's a lesson that we are all enough.
One notable observation about my process is procrastination. I don't plan my shots in advance. They are very random and spur-of-moment. Quite often, however, the thought of taking a photo is pushed aside by the sheer busy nature of my life. I miss the moment, often the best photo opportunity of the day, and end up not taking a photo at all because I simply don't think about it again.
I'm wondering if I'm really that busy to take the photo or if I'm procrastinating because I'm uncertain as to whether I can devote enough time to the process in order to capture the best photo possible? This month there were 7 missed moments through waiting. It's another good reminder to *do it now* for another oportunity may never come.
Eric and I stole a night downtown in Denver this past weekend, in part as a belated birthday celebration, but also to visit a restaurant I have had on my list for far too long. 2 years to be exact. I'm really good at putting things off that I want to do, but lately I have felt more of a sense of urgency.
First came the news of a dear friend's unexpected passing and then the prospect that Eric might receive military orders and we might be separated for an extended duration. Now seems like a really good time to do all sorts of things that we might otherwise bypass.
We had an amazing evening at Root Down, where the food is 75% organic and locally sourced. They are also very accustomed to feeding dietary challenged people like me. To quote Eric's comment card, "Food + Service = Utter Happiness."
If you ever find yourself in Denver, I highly recommend this gluten free and vegan friendly restaurant, but book in advance! Root Down make's Denver's top list of restaurants notoriously difficult to get into.
Eric surprised me by ordering these beautiful flowers which were waiting at our table.
We perused the menu. It's always a novelty to have a choice of what I want to eat as opposed to a process of elimination in what I can actually safely eat.
I started with this beet salad.
...and ended with this suprise dessert courtesy of Root Down, a raw Cranberry Lemon Bar, with Cashew Pistachio Crust and Strawberry Marmelade. It tasted like cheese cake but without the cheese :)
It was a beautiful balmy night in Denver so we comfortably walked down 16th Street. It's hard to believe the temperature is forecast todrop from the 60F to the 30F range over the next 24 hours to deliver one more big snow storm before we hurtle into summer.
We enjoyed our night so much we decided to do it all over again the following morning.
We returned to the same restaurant for breakfast.
I enjoyed a fancy omelette with a side of my fave, avocado.
...and he enjoyed me and the blood orange mimosas :)
Super-awesome time...Even coming back home to everyday life.
And for those subscribed to AnnaNews...I think I totally redeemed myself on the photo-taking front this weekend.
At the beginning of the year, in my 2013 Intentions post, I pledged to do a 365 Project that involved taking a photo each day throughout year 2013, of or about me. I named this project Project 365 | Just Me.
You can view my previous update at the end of January 2013 here.
Now almost 3 months into this project, and therefore a quarter of the way through my 365 pledge, I have 3 observations to share:
Getting Comfortable. In January the project was new and the enthusiasm was high ensuring a pretty high success rate. I missed a few days but focussed more on my success and less on failure. In this month, I was happy to take photo from other days to fill the blanks.
February proved to be a little harder, as I was on vacation and therefore out of my element. The latter part of the month was also an emotionally stressful time for me, which always quashes my desire to take photos. I had 28 photos for the month but some were *borrowed* from other days.
This month, I have missed 5 days, *borrowed* for one day and left the others blank. I have got to the point that I care less about the photos I have missed and more about the *body* of photos (as shown above) I have managed to build. Again, it's more about what I have done and not what I haven't. I'm also getting really comfortable in taking photos of myself in all sorts of settings.
Seeking Variety. Another huge observation, has been trying to create variety in my photos so that I'm not taking the same photo everyday. As a creature of habit, who doesn't venture too far from home, this is a task that is becoming harder by the day.
At some point, I'd like invest in this Gorillapod iPhone Grip to increase my options for taking photos from a distance with my iPhone as well as/or this iPhone Remote. I could of course break out my Canon 60D + remote + tripod which would probably be the most sensible approach. I will keep you posted, of course.
In the meantime, I'm moving forward with this project, observing and taking the photos that best capture me and my life right now.
At the beginning of the year, in my 2013 Intentions post, I pledged to do a 365 Project that involved taking a photo each day throughout year 2013, of or about me. I named this project Project 365 | Just Me.
The History. I have been an ardent scrapbooker for more than 10 years now. Taking photos and telling stories has become as integral to my routine as brushing my teeth. Aside from combining my love for Art and family, memory-keeping has become so important to my overall happiness, enabling me to notice the little things in my everyday and be grateful for them. Scrapbooking has enriched my life in many ways.
The Problem. In a decade of scrapbooking, I am missing from the big picture. I thought that Ella or Luke might take an interest in photography at some point, but I think it has been so normal in their lives, that it has become perhaps mundane to them. Eric just doesn't think on the same wave-length and my Mum only visits once, maybe twice per year. If I don't start taking photos of myself and making myself part of my story, then no-one will.
The Solution. JustMe is a project that I have tried and failed a few times over recent years. It has always somehow seemed vain and a little narcististic to me to take self-portraits, but at the beginning of the month I approached it with new energy and an *I can absolutely do this* attitude. How hard can it be? I just needed to get over myself, stop thinking and talking about it, and just get on and do it.
Last Fall, I started to dip my toe in the water by taking the odd photo and sharing it on Instagram, just to test the waters. I'm not a *jump in at the deep-end* type of girl at all. The more photos I took, the easier it became and the less I minded seeing myself in a photo. As the end of year approached, I stumpled upon Elsie Larson's Let's try a 365 Project? which I took as a sign that 2013 was the year to get this project done.
The Progress. Almost one month into the project and so far so good. I have miss 2 of the 28 days, but have taken more photos on other days, that I have been able to use instead. This project is not a measure of perfection but is intended to show the real me in an authentic and imperfect light. Like Elsie, I am learning a lot.
I could choose to beat myself up about the 2 days I have missed but how about celebrating the 26 photos I did take instead? We are quick to notice what we don't do instead of patting ourselves on the back for our achievements. Are you looking at your scrapbooking goals for this month with a half-empty or half-full glass approach? What are your well-dones for today or this month?
Photo by Jeannie Thiessen, Team Member at Capture Your 365, provides support and resources for daily photo projects.
Love Thy Self. Another big lesson has been self-acceptance and the idea of viewing myself as other's perhaps see me. Taking a photo a day of yourself means that you see yourself every day as others see you. After a very short time, I have become really OK with the fact that I'm always in my work-out clothes, rarely wear make-up and have deep line forming between my eyes caused by squinting and sensitivy to light. People see us as we are every day so why do we freak out at a single snapshot of one of these moments?
Many of the iPhone apps are available in Android versions and there are others worth checking out too! Almost all of them are FREE and, since Android is an open-source platform, new apps are being designed every day – here are a few of my favorites:
Instagram – [Free] Take a picture (or grab one from your library) and Instagram lets you add filters, frames, tilt-shift, etc. and then you can share with your friends via the Instagram feed, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.
RealBokeh [Free and paid versions] Draw bokeh on photos – even add more than one shape of bokeh! Multiples sizes, opacities, colors and share to Instagram, FaceBook, Twitter, etc. So cool – add lots of fun bokeh shapes and colors to new and existing photos.
PicsArt [Free] This app has it all. Tons of photo manipulations, masks, collages, frames, borders, stickers, text effects, clipart graphics, callouts, crop, rotate, color adjust and more!
Magic Effects - awesome artistic photo effects such as a stenciler, cartoonizer, sketcher, Orton, Lomo, vintage, cross process, HDR, fattal, pencil, Holgaart, watercolor, contours, comic, neon, gouache, old paper, pastel, red eye remover, Popart 2, smart blur, face fix, color splash, and paper.
Draw - Many drawing effects including: draw, sticker mode, callouts, artistic brushes and text styles! Draw on your Facebook friend's photos and share your artwork with the World!
Sharing - if you want to share images, you can quickly share them with other PicsArtists in PicsArt's photo art community, or by adding photos to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Dropbox, Fouresquare, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress and DeviantArt or send photos by SMS and email.
Photo Editor by Aviary [Free] Awesome editing features such as: One-tap auto enhance; Gorgeous photo effects and frames; Fun stickers; Color balance; Crop, rotate, and straighten your photo; Adjust brightness, contrast, color temperature, and saturation; Sharpen and blur; Color temp ("Warmth"); Draw and add text; Create your own memes; Cosmetic tools: fix redeye, remove blemishes and whiten teeth. There's even a YouTube video about this app – HERE .
Photo Editor [Free] Adjust color, add effects, rotate, crop, resize, frame, and draw on your photos. Color adjustment options include hue, saturation, contrast, and brightness. Additionally, Photo Editor offers a large variety of effects for your photos including gamma correction, auto contrast, auto tone, blur, sharpen, oil paint, sketch, polaroid, black and white high contrast, sepia, and lots more. The easy touch and pinch-to-zoom interface makes it simple to play with your photos and get the exact look you desire. Edit photos from your gallery and camera.
Vignette – [Free and paid versions] Use more than 70 customisable filters and 50 frames in any combination to create many photo effects. Vignette is also a full-featured camera application, featuring digital zoom, time-lapse, self-timer and more. Check out LOTS of examples HERE.
Photo Grid Collage Maker – [Free] Awesome collage creator – Tall, wide, square, freestyle – you name it. Add effects & stickers and then share your collage to: Facebook, Instagram Twitter, Flicker, Picasa, Blogger, Tumblr and other social media.
Pixlr-o-Matic – [Free] (Android version of Hipstamatic) Color overlays help you adjust the mood – amplify the tone, cool it down, or add surreal shades; Lighting effects add drama, sparkle or a grunge look; Finish off your photo process with the right frame – pick a border style that fits you; Want it all in a single swipe? Try the randomizer to select an effect, overlay, and border at random. No camera required! Select a photo from your gallery and start applying effects. If your device has a camera, you can also snap a new picture from within the app. Share your vintage image directly with your friends through Facebook, etc.
Postagram Postcards – [Free] Postcards live on! Postagram makes it easy to send a printed photo in the mail to yourself, friends or family anywhere in the world. Take a shot with the app or use photos from your photo library or Facebook. Printed on thick, glossy photo postcards at 300dpi resolution. Delivered anywhere in the US for 99c & $1.99 for addresses in other countries (price includes postage) US, European and Canadian delivery takes only 2-5 business days. Other international destinations can take up to 2 or 3 weeks. Postagrams are personalized with the profile photo of the sender. Include an optional 140 character message. Photo pop-outs of the postcard as a 3X3 inch photo print. You can snap a shot with the app or select a photo from your phone's gallery or from Facebook.
EverNote – [Free] Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders--and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go. Research smarter: snap photos of whiteboards and books; Take meeting and class notes, draft agendas and research note; Plan a trip: keep track of travel plans, plane tickets and passports; Organize and save recipes; search by ingredients later; Create a grocery list or task list and check things off as you go; View web pages saved in Evernote on your desktop; Capture ideas and inspiration on the go.
So – that ought to keep you busy for a while, and be sure and check out Anna's Instagram feed!
AnnaTeamer, Heather Prins, is a prolific digital scrapbooker with an artsy meets traditional style. She has been known to create up to 80 pages in one month using photos from her camera and iPhone. In this post, she shares some of her favorite iPhone apps for capturing and creating artsy photos.
Instagram. This free quick and easy app enables you to capture moments in square photo format only. You can take a photo using your iPhone or import one from your photo library. Instagram also provides you with a number of filter and frames to choose from, as well as choices on how to crop your images. Once you have applied the desired effect, your edited image can saved and uploaded to your Instagram stream for private or public viewing.
Bokehful. This app allows you to draw bokeh light effects directly on your photos in circle, heart, star or hexagon bokeh shapes. There are multiple bokeh color gradients to choose from and you can change the gradient direction before saving to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, email and/or other apps. Bokehful retains the original dimensions of your image. Simply select a color from a little wheel on the bottom left, choose your bokeh shape then draw on your photo with your finger tip to create random bokehs. This fun little app costs only $0.99.
Picframe. This app provides you with the ability to share multiple photos in frames with your friends and family via Facebook, email, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr. There are 67 fully adjustable frames supporting up to 9 photos and offering a variety of features such as text labels, rounded corners, photo effects, shapes, shadows, colors and patterns. It's also a useful app for printing multiple photos for your scrapbooking layouts. You can obtain this app for $0.99.
Camera+. The app enables you to apply simple edits to your photos such straighten images, crop, brighten, adjust coloring, alter the white balance, remove red eye and so much more. With just a simple click of the clarity button you can turn a pretty average iPhone photo into a more defined, professional looking shot. There is so much to play with on this app and it's a steal at only $0.99.
6x6. This app enables you to take high-quality square photographs with your iPhone in old 6x6 camera format. This retro 6 cm (or 21⁄4-inch)-square medium format was once popular with both amateurs and professionals using 120, 220 and 620 roll film. The app automatically crops your photos for you and these square images work really well when combined with the layers of 6 X 6 ArtsyKardz. For more information on how to use ArtsyKardz, please see Tutorial | Using ArtsyKardz in your Digital Layouts No. 2.
Picfx. This must-have app lets you add texture, grunge and mood to images. This app offers over 100 effects and you can combine many as you like to create multiple looks. This app is $1.99.
Notability. Apple recently listed Notability as the best selling note taker of 2012 and describes it as a tool that powerfully integrates handwriting, PDF annotation, typing, recording, and organizing so you can take notes your way! Discover the freedom to capture ideas, share insights, and present information in one perfect place, and all for only $1.99.
I use Notability to create sketchs and plan for my Project Life pages. I can easily draw grids using my finger tip (or stylus), then type in each square what I want to place there. I can make lists, highlight text, change text color and more.
Eric and I enjoyed a night in Colorado Springs this weekend celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary. A winter cold blast persuaded me to leave my Canon 60D at home and I documented our romantic getaway with my iPhone and my latest, and new favorite, app download, Afterglow, available from the iTunes app store.
You can read more about this iPhone photo editor app:
