SGnTN Casey Fleser / Some Geek in TN

#1. Evolution (36 / 365)	#2. No Photos Allowed (20 / 365)
#3. Moonlight (35 / 365)	#4. Video Game Violence (55 / 365)
#5. C is for Coronary (218 / 365)	#6. Raw Hammer: Anger (246 / 365)
#7. Icons (161 / 365)	#8. No Way Out (43 / 365)
#9. Assimilation (57 / 365)	#10. Stones River (195 / 365)

Otherwise known as the, Thank God This Is Almost Over edition.

Hello again blog. Another 100 days have passed (and then some) and I was looking over my Project 365 pics trying to make sense of what flickr thinks is interesting and what it does not. Still doesn’t make sense to me. I was also marveling at the fact that I’ve somehow managed to take a picture every day for the last 310 days. Only 55 more to go.

While it’s fun to look back on, and I’ve learned a good bit about taking photos and maybe a teeny bit about being disciplined, it’s not been all that I hoped. Initially, it got my creative juices flowing, and gave me an excuse to get out more in search of interesting photos. But, as time has worn on, I’ve started looking on it as more of a chore. I really don’t want to look at my camera with dread. I am still determined to finish the year however. It would be a shame to have come all this way and stumble at the finish. But next year I think I’ll find another project to occupy myself with.

Three photos dropped out of the top 10 list over the last 100 days, replaced with three new ones. Leaving the list are Day’s End (112 / 365), The Globe (78 / 365), and, ironically, Will I Ever Make Explore? (75 / 365). Day’s End and The Globe are actually two of my favorites. Sad to see those two go.

C is for Coronary (218 / 365) enters the list at #5. I love this picture. You can get a sense of my sense of humor from it, along with Video Game Violence (55 / 365) and Empty Headed (251 / 365). They all make me smile.

Raw Hammer: Anger (246 / 365) at #6? Really? 41 views, 1 favorite. Just below it is Icons! (161 / 365) with 1,184 views and 2 favorites. Just another mystery of flickr’s interestingness rating. It’s a bowling ball people! 🙂

Lastly, Stones River (195 / 365) enters the list at #10. Actually this one was supposed to be used in a hotel guest guide for Rutherford County along with an article about the Murfreesboro greenway. I’m not sure what happened with that, if anything, but it is a pretty good shot and it’s nice to see it getting a little recognition.

#1. Evolution (36 / 365)	#2. No Photos Allowed (20 / 365)
#3. Moonlight (35 / 365)	#4. Video Game Violence (55 / 365)
#5. Icons (161 / 365)	#6. No Way Out (43 / 365)
#7. Assimilation (57 / 365)	#8. The Globe (78 / 365)
#9. Will I Ever Make Explore? (75 / 365)	#10. Day’s End (112 / 365)

Wow, look how long it’s been since I’ve written anything here! My blog gets pretty neglected what with Facebook and Twitter. Usually I don’t have, or am too lazy, to compose any thoughts longer than a few sentences and those two services provide an adequate outlet for my micro thoughts. If it seems lonely over here, well you know where to find me.

This is supposed to be about my Project 365 though. But it’s kind of related. I set out on this project, taking one picture a day, every day for an entire year, and it was supposed to help my with several things. Learning about photography, taking up something and sticking with it, partitioning my time, getting out more, etc. And it has helped in some of these areas. We’re 204 days into the year and I’m still taking pictures.

On the other hand there have been some negatives as well. I’m starting to look at my camera with dread and count the days until the end of the year. This doesn’t seem like a good thing. And you can see, as you go through all of these pictures, that I’m just not putting the effort into it that I did initially. Of my top 10 most interesting pictures (according to flickr), 5 of them were taken during the first 2 months of the project. Only two were taken during the last 100 days and of those, one just happened to get linked to a very popular blog.

Part of the problem is that this project has worked a little too well in some ways. For example, I’ve started exercising and trying to watch my weight. So now I weigh myself daily, and go to the gym as often as I can. What’s happened is that now it’s usually very late before I have a chance to think about a photo and not only is there a time constraint, but also an environmental one. Limiting myself to a picture between 10PM and midnight doesn’t afford quite as many photo opportunities as you’d think.

So, I need to work this out somehow and try and raise the quality of my photography again somehow.

In the meantime, the list hasn’t really changed much since last time. Sylvan Stream, Night Settles on LP Field, and Fillin’ Station are gone from the list. New on the list are:

• Icons is a picture I took out at WWDC this year. It’s really of my icon for Lucky 7 Slots, and isn’t amazing or anything. What happened was it got linked to a Skype blog post and has gotten lots and lot of exposure and has zoomed all the way to #5 and is still getting lots of views each day. Thanks Skype! 🙂
• No Way Out is a pretty old picture actually and the only Photoshop composition in my Project 365 set. I really had fun making this and wish I had more time to devote to stuff like this. I’m not sure why the sudden burst of interestingness, but it’s jumped up to #6
• Day’s End is one that I’m really happy with. It squeaks in at #10. I went out to Hurricane Creek Recreation Facility on Percy Priest lake a few months back and took some pictures around sunset. And really liked the way it turned out. This one was even linked to by Nashvillest for their photo of the day. Thanks Nashvillest! 🙂

That’s about it for my photography update. Until next time then. Perhaps I won’t wait 3 months for the next update. Or maybe I will.

#1. Evolution (36 / 365)	#2. Moonlight (35 / 365)
#3. Video Game Violence (55 / 365)	#4. No Photos Allowed (20 / 365)
#5. Assimilation (57 / 365)	#6. The Globe (78 / 365)
#7. Will I Ever Make Explore? (75 / 365)	#8. Sylvan Stream (74 / 365)
#9. Night Settles on LP Field (10 / 365)	#10. Fillin’ Station (60 / 365)

I’m jumping the gun a bit since I’ve not posted or taken my 100th Project 365 picture. That will happen sometime today. But I was curious to look at my progress, so there.

Having gotten used to Aperture and its features, I coughed up the dough to Apple so I can continue using it. I still haven’t really spent time getting to know all of its features, but I can find my way around well enough to crop, straighten, adjust exposure, levels, etc. The less I do to a pic the happier I am, but occasionally I spend a bit more time trying to get a photo just right.

Looking over my 99 pics, one thing that makes me particularly happy is that I try not to focus on a particular theme. While I do tend to take a whole lot of pics around the house because I still have a hard time making time for my hobby, there is still a good bit of variety. Mostly still life around the house, but several of flowers and naturey bits thrown in, as well as sports, architecture, and even a portrait or two. This is a good thing I think.

Taking a look at my Top 10

1. Evolution is still #1 and my only Explored pic. I still don’t get what’s so special about it.
2. Moonlight makes a well deserved move from #3 to #2. It’s still one of my favorites despite a smattering of hot pixels (not newly discovered red stars).
3. Video Game Violence moves from #4 to #3. I really had a lot of fun making this one. And so did my son. He regularly presents ideas for my picture of the day that include assorted toys meeting an untimely demise. Perhaps I should worry. I need more stuff like this. Not necessarily blood and violence, but like this and No Way Out (43 / 365) that require a little thought and creativity.
4. No Photos Allowed falls from #2 to #4. I took this for the perspective, but its popularity is also party attributed to the security guard, standing to the left in this photo, who came and told me that photography wasn’t allowed in the mall. The admin for the Photography is not a crime group stumbled across this pic and invited me to add it to the group whereupon it received many views. It actually has more views than any of my other Project 365 pics.
5. Assimilation jumped from #8 to #5. Still shocked that I was able to capture this on the first try without any sort of assistance.
6. The Globe is one of my favorite little bits of serendipity since I started this project. I knew I wanted to take a picture of this glass globe but wasn’t quite sure how to pose it. I laid it on a magazine and found the words were magnified nicely. Even better when I found words like “depression”, “uncertain”, “the globe” and “I don’t know” and managed to magnify them within the globe.
7. Will I Ever Make Explore? is another new one and a bit of a joke. Flickr’s Explore contains some fantastic photography. And while I don’t expect to see my pics on there everyday, I’ll admit I have uploaded more than one image thinking this might be the one. Sadly, Scout remains silent.
8. Sylvan Stream. Speaking of stuff I thought had a shot at Explore. In any case I enjoyed my little drive out to Burgess Falls where this photo was taken.
9. Night Settles on LP Field drops from #6 to #9 which is just as well since it is a painful reminder of the Titans loss to the Ravens in the playoffs.
10. Fillin’ Station drops from #7 to #10. While I like it, it also demonstrates the quirkiness of flickr’s interestingness calculations. Within moments of posting it, it had 1 view and 1 favorite and was therefore, somehow, immediately among my most interesting pics. Right now it has 46 views and 1 favorite and is my 24th most interesting pic overall. While Uppercut (59 / 365) taken the day before has 86 views and 1 favorite, but is my 30th most interesting. Strange.

That’s it for this time around. I am having a harder and harder time trying to find things to point my camera at, but so far so good. Just two hundred and sixty-five more to go. Thanks again to everyone for your encouragement and feedback.