Naval Patel asked me on Twitter today what my inspiration was for my 365 project.

Since I could not figure out how to narrow down my thoughts to a single tweet, I thought I would spell it out in a nice blog post.

Because of others

A quick search on the internet will find tons of other people who have embarked on a 365 project. All of these people come with varying skill levels, and a preference for shooting different things.

This would be the first bit of inspiration from me. I go through Flickr and look at what other photographers are doing, and get ideas based around what they are doing.

The 365 can seem pretty daunting at first while you are doing it, but by looking at what others have done, I have the attitude of “They can do it, why can’t I.”

Variety is the spice of life

According to strengths quest, I am an input. This means that I like to learn new things, and try different things. This project encourages me to step outside my bubble and try new things; like developing my own film or building a pinhole camera.

Even if the experiment ends in a failure, I know there is something new to try; or I can learn what not to do next time I attempt this.

Also, this project has encouraged many photo adventures. There is something really fun about getting a group together, pointing in a direction and going there to find out what is over the horizon.

If I were to say I had an artistic statement for this project it would be: “I have never tried this before, so let’s see what happens.”

But I don’t.

Tons of Photos

I usually have at least one camera on me (I own 15 different cameras) and I take tons of pictures. A lot of these pictures are awful, but some of them are real gems.

I have an entire folder filled with slides and negatives next to an external hard drive filled with images. Have you ever seen any of them? Most likely not, because I never do anything with them.

One of the goals I have for this project, is to go through the folder and the Gigs of data I have and find some shots that are really worthwhile.

What does this button do?

My final inspiration behind this project is the equipment I use.

I have read the manual for my camera. I have read the manual for my flash. I read blogs and tutorials on everything from how to shoot this to what does this do in Lightroom.

However, I can not say this is how I learn.

I am one of those people that has to put something on its feet and try it out. Reading about it is great to get the idea started, but ultimately, I have to try and fail several times.

And now I am off to shoot my photo for the day.

As part of my blog I am starting a 5 questions project.

The goal of this project is to find cool people, and interview them using 5 questions only.

I am an awful writer, but I do not have to be. The goal of this project is going to be to improve my writing.

I will be releasing these 5q once a week as I get them done.

If you want to join the fun. I will be happy to interview. Email: Simon@simonponder.net