365/1 Double Vision

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others."

Jonathan Swift

Double vision is the art of seeing what the drunken mind cannot focus upon. Or something like that. I've been watching the photo streams of a few 365 projects on Flickr for the last few months. Well, not so much watching ... but staring at with abandon, noting the subtle and progressive changes in style and vision from day 1 to day 365. Inspiring, really. And it's been making me long for a new project.

I made my first attempt at a photo-a-day project in two years ago, today, actually. I didn't get very far into it before I lost interest. 68 days from the look of it. I got stuck. Plain and simple. On the 69th day, I just didn't have it in me, so I chose not to take a photo. And the same occurred on the day after. And then the day after. And the day after. I slowly sank in the quicksand of artistic blah and couldn't make my way out.

2009 was a different year for me artistically. I had some good, but simple projects going on, but the loss of the studio space was a major blow to my creativity. The studio, however much of a crutch it became, was a constant reminder that I should shoot. I knew that I had to shoot at least four or five times a month to make it profitable to me, not only monetarily, but artistically. I needed it there to keep the vision going.

But, I lost it. The studio was gone and so was whatever real willpower I had to kick myself in the ass to go out and shoot.

2010 will be different. This is my goal. I want to see the beginning and the end of my 365 days of photography, much like the others I've been pouring through the last few weeks. New Year's Day is a natural beginning point for it and this time I won't squander it.

Of course, I say this with a plastic cup in my hand, filled with the wonderfully creamy contents of a Black Cow. Or Dead Cow. It's "Something" Cow. I know that. It's tasty. And I knew enough to remember to take my first photo of 2010 before I let the mooing creation lull me to sleep.

And here it is. Unfocused. Double vision. Imperfect in every way. Now let's see where this goes.

[And if you're following at home, if you see that I've fallen behind on my 365, feel free to kick me in the ass. Sometimes we all need a bit of bottom-of-the-boot encouragement to keep with our goals.]