Rebooting The “365 Day: Highlight Of The Day” Project.
I’ve decided to revive my “365 Day: Highlight of the Day” Project once again. After searching through my old Flickr photos to post on this site, I wondered why I stopped taking picture in 2013. I suppose I was busy with freelance projects, work, or maybe even finding work, but that’s no excuse to take a single goddamn photo and put it up. I enjoyed taking photos each day, as it brought me that little comfort of focusing on a single subject on a single day and writing about it.
If you want to know why I started the project all the way back in 2008, let me give you a quick primer: photographer Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid every single day, from 1979 to 1997 — until his death. He pretty much encapsulated his life with these daily photographs, and as he was on his deathbed suffering from cancer, he still took photos. It was a testament to his devotion to his project. Back in 2008, I also noticed that a lot of photographers on Flickr were participating in something called the “365 Day Project,” where they’d post a photo each day (sometimes there was a theme, sometimes it was just a self-portrait), for a year. I thought to myself, “why not try this and see how long I can do this?”
So there you have it. I’m resuming the project; not only is a great way to reflect each day, but now I have a utilitarian purpose to use Flickr again. Furthermore, not only do Smartphones take decent photos nowadays, they’re so ubiquitous in our lives, it doesn’t make sense not to always have them around. Snap and shoot, upload easily, done.
Check out the project from 2008 to 2013, and now 2016, here.
Throwback Thursday.
When I was visiting my parents in California over Christmas, my mom pulled out stacks and stacks of photo albums and showed me pictures of me in my childhood. They reminded me, “goddamn, I was a cute kid.” I paused and then thought to myself, “what the hell happened?”
Let me share some of the photos:
The Past Is Told By Those Who Win.
I’ve been listening to Jimmy Eat World’s 2004 album, Futures, today. It’s bringing back a lot of memories of undegrad, and when it was first released it inspired me to produce a series for my first photography class:
The combination of emo-pop and looking at these photos are bringing back those feelings of both being creative and inherently lonely: when Futures came out, I lost contact with some of my best friends, and I struggled with school and family. My head simply wasn’t in a good place, but it lead me to the path of being an artist and designer as a career. To me, loneliness and creativity go hand-in-hand: I’m at my most inspired and do my favorite work when I halt all social interactions. Now, at 32, I’m especially too busy with my job, my time is limited, and a few number of my friends are acting like bullies. I lost the desire to make things and, on the time I had left outside making money, I got too caught up with going out or stressing over menial chores. I didn’t want to be alone, I wanted to support myself financially, I wanted to have the clean house with the nice things — that combination halted whatever desire I had to draw or write or do anything for my emotional enrichment. With no outlet, I began to sink into depression.
I think I’m going to continue doing my own thing and focusing solely on being creative. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been properly maintaining and updating not only this blog, but my Instagram, my dog’s Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and some other social media outlets. I’ve been drawing again. And of course, I’ve been writing. These are the ways to get my head clear, and they make me feel that whatever free time I have is being utilized properly. I’m producing work instead of just going out to a bar or restaurant with friends or hanging around someone’s apartment. I’m feeding my soul.
Being a loner or recluse has its benefits, and it’s inspiring.
North Williamsburg Photo Walk.
On Sunday, I met up with Basak to walk and take photos around Williamsburg. We casually explored everything between North 10th/Grand Street and Bedford Avenue/The East River: we ate artisinal ice cream at Odd Fellows (I got Brown Butter Sage), looked at a shit-ton of jewelry at the Brooklyn Artists’ Flea, talked about music at Rough Trade Records NYC (I bought Wolf Parade and TLC on vinyl), wandered listlessly at that Urban Outfitters megafuck cluster store, drank Blue Bottle Coffee, smelled chocolate at Mast Brothers, visited the Sketchbook Project Library, and finally strolled along the piers by the East River.
Yeah, everything about that makes me sound like a hipster, huh?
Well, they’re gone from Williamsburg now. Nearly everyone we passed on the now-crowded streets of Williamsburg fit in one or more the following categories: 1) spoke in a British accent, 2) spoke on iPhones in German, Swedish, Arabic, or French, 3) pushed along a stroller while walking a small dog, or 4) looked like they came out of either a J.Crew or an H&M ad while walking a small dog. I guess I’ll save my Upper Middle Class Gentrification Rant Later, but you should check out this article regarding the economic disparity of Brooklyn, and how out-of-country mega-millionaires pretty much pushed out the slightly less rich from Manhattan and into the Outer Boroughs, which pushed out the middle class and the poor.
Sigh. I wish I was rich.
In any event, it was nice to take some photos with my new camera that was not dog-related, and spend time with Basak before she leaves NYC and moves to Berlin.
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