Last April I jumped on board a 30 dresses in 30 days group project on Facebook. A friend started this a few years ago and I had admired another friend's photos that she would post when she was part of this challenge. The premise is that you wear a dress every day for the 30 days of April and take a photo of yourself in the dress and post the photo on Facebook, on the 30 Dresses in 30 Days group page. It took a few years to realize I could join in this event and when I did I fell in love with a few things.
My camera was the first thing. Being an artist and a stay at home mom can be frustrating. I have a hard time finding time to be creative or make art while I am caring for my alien. Teaching him all the ways of planet earth takes up a lot of time and brain power, not to mention energy. So "finding" my camera was a gift. Taking photographs is fast, it is immediate gratification, especially when they are digital. I am a painter so taking a photograph that looked like a painting was so soothing to me. So much less work than actually painting. I tried every setting on my camera, in all different lighting and settings. I learned a lot.
I remembered what it was like to put together an outfit for the day. One that I enjoyed coming up with. Most days comfort is king. But there was a time when I had time to "play" in my closet and come up with interesting things to wear. For the month of April, I played dress up. I wore dresses and skirts I had not worn in years. I fell in love with my clothes again.
Having an assignment for the day that had nothing to do with my son, my husband, my house, or my dog, was GOOD for me. Every day, I spent time deciding what to wear, then deciding where to take a picture, then I would take a mizzillion pictures and pick one to post. It was not easy to take an interesting and flattering picture of myself every day. It took some patience and thought. I fell in love with a daily creative outlet.
My favorite day was going to a small graveyard by myself and running and jumping around in the cold barefoot..... I would not have done that otherwise. Running around a graveyard barefoot on a 40* day would not have made it onto my list of things to do. And it wasn't where I planned to go that day, it just happened. And one of the last days, I went to a park in town with my friend who I enlisted in the 30 dresses endeavour, with 30 balloons as the sun was setting, wearing sequins. That would not have been on my to do list either.
Of course as April ended I thought I must come up with next month assignment! I came up with the idea of doing a portrait a day. I invited people to join me. So many people jumped on board on Facebook. The group page is still there, 176 people are in the group. 31 Portraits in 31 Days. And although I started off strong, it sort of peetered out for me. I had a hard time keeping up. I had such high hopes. But after the dresses of April, my house suffered. It was a mess and there was no food in the fridge and my clothes were everywhere. It took quite a bit of extra time. And the portraits were not as much fun. I don't know why exactly. I drew some, painted some, took some photographs too. I thought I would paint them all.
I did love seeing everyones posts and at the end of the month the portraits group started a new group and the assignment was landscapes for the month of June. I bowed out. I couldn't keep up.
I have a vague memory of deciding to do a daily monthly assignment that I totally bailed on. I cannot even remember when or what it was.
Last month I decided to write haikus every day. This seemed easy enough but still I missed some days. And some days, I wrote 3 or 4....
you've driven me mad
meet me in the snow filled field
leave your gloves at home
let my mind rest now
just scooch over a little
I might miss
something
answer me quickly
this loud calling through the woods
may wake all the bears
Lately I have been thinking about taking photographs of things I do every day. Ordinary things. Then somehow I got into a conversation with someone about those kinds of photographs. Other peoples photographs of their every day life. How interesting they can be. I think they are interesting and also boring. And there is something about the things we do every day that are boring and lovely at the same time. This day to day life that can be so dull, that I may miss some day. I think about the day to day things I used to do, in other houses or apartments, with other people that were in my life that are not around anymore.
The idea of using my camera every day makes me happy and hopeful. So, I have decided for the month of February, to take photographs every day of everyday things I do. Either things I do every single day or things I do at least a few days a week. I imagine it will be a 28 day waltz with a tripod around my house. So far, I have 11 people joining me on Facebook to post a photo every day of their own everyday. February Everyday. And this time I want to write about it. Because I am itching to write. Something.
Happy February. Another 28 days of winter. 28 days of everyday living, God willing.
No comments:
Post a Comment