365 of 365 "The End"

A year ago today I was feeling a bit joyless. Things in SL had become routine -- mind you it was and remains a routine that is comfortable and adds tremendous value to my life -- but I was missing the blissful early days of my time in the virtual world. I decided I needed a project that would push me toward a creative goal. I thought about concentrating on improving my building skills and I thought about opening a music venue. Neither of these options resonated. I wasn't sure what to do but I knew I needed something.

On 11/4 Zha and I were sitting in the gazebo on the top of the hill on our parcel on Marawa chatting into the night as is our habit. I had been looking at the RL flickr stream of a photographer I admire who was closing in on the end of her second 365 and it occurred to me I could do a similar project in SL. The much ignored copy of Photoshop had been mocking me for some time and I figured I might force myself to learn a thing or two via a 365 project. Before I thought too hard about what I was committing to I took the picture above and blogged that I intended to take a SL self portrait every day for a full year.

Once I hit "publish" my first though was "what the hell have I just done." I had no idea if I could or would be able to stick to a picture a day but I also knew I did not want to be embarrassed by failing to keep to my word. A year later, I can't promise any of my images are good but I can say I never missed a day. Some days I cheated and posted RL pictures, some days I pulled images from a folder of "spares" and I even caught one image I repeated (shame on me) but every day I posted something.

When I look back over the body of work I think my images have improved. Photoshop still mocks me but sometimes I get the last word and an image conveys a feeling in just the way I intend. I have a long long way to go before I will be willing to call myself a photographer, but my eye has improved and my output has as well.

To those of you who have been here with me for this silly little project of mine - thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your encouragement means the world to me.

Here are a few images from my 365 that are meaningful to me for one reason or another. I hope you enjoy them. If you click on any of the images you will get a larger size, which is worth doing in most cases. It does make the pictures Giant though so you have been warned.