Austin Tott
365|365
The End.
(The colors pop a lot more when you view it on black...)
Wow. It’s finished. I don’t really know what to say so now I guess you guys get to listen as I ramble… It’s almost funny to think where I was at the start of the year. I felt pretty uncomfortable in front of the camera and kinda awkward directing people while hiding behind the lens. Besides my family and a few close friends I rarely asked people to model for me and the idea of self-portraiture was quite unfamiliar to me, besides holding a camera up next to me in a mirror to take a picture...
I despise sounding cliché but I don’t think it’s possible to get through this little journal entry without that happening. I don’t think I fully understood what I was getting into when I started the project. I didn’t think that it would consume my life quite as much as it did, but it pretty much was my entire life this past year. I would start thinking about my photo for the day as soon as I woke up, throughout the day I would focus on the logistics of collecting props and executing it, and I would fall asleep thinking of the next picture. But this project resulted in a whole lot more than just photography, I figured out a lot about myself, you know how when people are put under pressure you start to see their true character, well I think that is kinda what happens with this project… I went through a lot of transitions this year and it was nice to have something that was so constant.
I’ve had lots of people ask me if I will be doing another 365 next year and I’m perfectly fine letting them know that I need a little break... I contemplated following this with a 52 weeks project, but I know I will be taking more than one photo a week and knowing me if I was doing a 52 weeks I would probably end up waiting until the end of each week and I would only put up one photo. So I will just be posting stuff whenever I feel like it, and it will probably be fairly often… Don’t worry I’m not planning on disappearing.
There are so many people that I want to thank so you can either bear with me through this paragraph or skip on to the next one. Thank you to all the people who have been with me since the start of this project, and those who hopped onboard somewhere along the journey! Thanks to everyone who has ever commented, favorited or even looked at one of my photos, I really do appreciate the support. I don’t think I would have gotten all the way through the project if I didn’t have you guys there holding me accountable and supporting me! Thanks to John for originally sparking my interest in photography and being such an inspiring figure in my life. Thanks to Chelsea for being the one that supported and pushed me to do this project. Thanks to Cameron and Traci for bearing with me when I had first began photography and was too nervous to ask anyone else to model… Cameron for being the most supportive friend one could ask for and Traci for giving me your honest opinion when I really do need it and for keeping me in check! Thanks to my family for putting up with me as I frantically ran around the house at 11:45 trying to come up with something to photograph, for continuously trying to come up with new ideas and concepts even when I would shoot ‘em down, and for posing for all kinds of ridiculous photos! Thanks to Gina for all of your help with titles. Thanks to all my new friends in the photo program, I can’t wait to get to know you all better! And thanks to everyone who has received the “What should I do for my photo for today?!?!” text message. Thanks to Katie for being there for me and always being willing to model. Thanks to Sam for (many times) helping me choose which picture to post and for letting Cameron and I throw water balloons at your face! Thanks to Alex and Bryan for putting up with me throughout the year and all of my ridiculousness as I started out on the project. Thanks to all my George Fox people (you know who you are!) And thanks to everyone that ever modeled or assisted for me, couldn’t have done it without you! And finally thanks to all the phenomenal photographers on Flickr for providing me with a never ending amazing amount of inspiration! (I tagged you!) I’m sure I have forgotten some people… Sorry, you’ll have to forgive me!
I’ve learned to push myself to meet deadlines and I’m so very proud of the fact that I never once skipped or missed a day! To those of you thinking of starting a 365 I highly encourage it, but I think that it is something that you need to seriously consider and not just jump into… There will be days where you will hate your photo and won’t want to show it to anyone, and days that you won’t be able to come up with any worthwhile concept… But there will also be so many amazing opportunities that you never would have had and if you really apply yourself then the amount of growth can be tremendous! And you will have created a visual diary of your entire year… I can look back on every single photograph and remember something about that day!
Once again, and I really do mean it.
Thank you.
365|365
The End.
(The colors pop a lot more when you view it on black...)
Wow. It’s finished. I don’t really know what to say so now I guess you guys get to listen as I ramble… It’s almost funny to think where I was at the start of the year. I felt pretty uncomfortable in front of the camera and kinda awkward directing people while hiding behind the lens. Besides my family and a few close friends I rarely asked people to model for me and the idea of self-portraiture was quite unfamiliar to me, besides holding a camera up next to me in a mirror to take a picture...
I despise sounding cliché but I don’t think it’s possible to get through this little journal entry without that happening. I don’t think I fully understood what I was getting into when I started the project. I didn’t think that it would consume my life quite as much as it did, but it pretty much was my entire life this past year. I would start thinking about my photo for the day as soon as I woke up, throughout the day I would focus on the logistics of collecting props and executing it, and I would fall asleep thinking of the next picture. But this project resulted in a whole lot more than just photography, I figured out a lot about myself, you know how when people are put under pressure you start to see their true character, well I think that is kinda what happens with this project… I went through a lot of transitions this year and it was nice to have something that was so constant.
I’ve had lots of people ask me if I will be doing another 365 next year and I’m perfectly fine letting them know that I need a little break... I contemplated following this with a 52 weeks project, but I know I will be taking more than one photo a week and knowing me if I was doing a 52 weeks I would probably end up waiting until the end of each week and I would only put up one photo. So I will just be posting stuff whenever I feel like it, and it will probably be fairly often… Don’t worry I’m not planning on disappearing.
There are so many people that I want to thank so you can either bear with me through this paragraph or skip on to the next one. Thank you to all the people who have been with me since the start of this project, and those who hopped onboard somewhere along the journey! Thanks to everyone who has ever commented, favorited or even looked at one of my photos, I really do appreciate the support. I don’t think I would have gotten all the way through the project if I didn’t have you guys there holding me accountable and supporting me! Thanks to John for originally sparking my interest in photography and being such an inspiring figure in my life. Thanks to Chelsea for being the one that supported and pushed me to do this project. Thanks to Cameron and Traci for bearing with me when I had first began photography and was too nervous to ask anyone else to model… Cameron for being the most supportive friend one could ask for and Traci for giving me your honest opinion when I really do need it and for keeping me in check! Thanks to my family for putting up with me as I frantically ran around the house at 11:45 trying to come up with something to photograph, for continuously trying to come up with new ideas and concepts even when I would shoot ‘em down, and for posing for all kinds of ridiculous photos! Thanks to Gina for all of your help with titles. Thanks to all my new friends in the photo program, I can’t wait to get to know you all better! And thanks to everyone who has received the “What should I do for my photo for today?!?!” text message. Thanks to Katie for being there for me and always being willing to model. Thanks to Sam for (many times) helping me choose which picture to post and for letting Cameron and I throw water balloons at your face! Thanks to Alex and Bryan for putting up with me throughout the year and all of my ridiculousness as I started out on the project. Thanks to all my George Fox people (you know who you are!) And thanks to everyone that ever modeled or assisted for me, couldn’t have done it without you! And finally thanks to all the phenomenal photographers on Flickr for providing me with a never ending amazing amount of inspiration! (I tagged you!) I’m sure I have forgotten some people… Sorry, you’ll have to forgive me!
I’ve learned to push myself to meet deadlines and I’m so very proud of the fact that I never once skipped or missed a day! To those of you thinking of starting a 365 I highly encourage it, but I think that it is something that you need to seriously consider and not just jump into… There will be days where you will hate your photo and won’t want to show it to anyone, and days that you won’t be able to come up with any worthwhile concept… But there will also be so many amazing opportunities that you never would have had and if you really apply yourself then the amount of growth can be tremendous! And you will have created a visual diary of your entire year… I can look back on every single photograph and remember something about that day!
Once again, and I really do mean it.
Thank you.