#365daysof47

Tere Hernandez-Bonet in Richmond, Virginia made #365daysof47 in which she posted one black and white photo of herself on Instagram every day for one year, beginning on her 47th birthday.


Why did you decide to do this project? It started as a whim. I have always loved seeing those photo projects that people do where they take a pic of themselves every day and then do a sped up slide show of all of them in order. I thought it would be interesting to see how much I change over the course of a year. But I wanted to make it more of a creative outlet for myself rather than just a time-lapse project by taking the same pic every day. I gave myself some parameters to work with. Each photo would be a black and white square format and a pic of just me (yes, a few cats made it in). And no stockpiling images. Each photo used was taken on the same day I posted it for a true representation of me in time.


How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?  It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. It started out as a lighthearted project but became part of my daily ritual. Most days I looked forward to it but there were days that were not so fun. I lost two beloved cats over the year and the last thing I wanted to do was to take a selfie. So you'll see me crying in a few shots, but that was a true representation of me that day. It became a visual diary of sorts. I can look back and when I see a certain image, I know exactly what I was thinking and feeling on that day. I really tried to make them interesting. I didn't want it to be all glamorous selfies. Some days I'd wake up with a vision of my shot and then work through it in my head. Sometimes I'd see an object or lighting effect and it would remind me of something or spark an image composition. For instance, I saw a kids barrette on the dresser and it looked like a moth. That reminded me of the movie poster from The Silence of the Lambs and then I suddenly had my image for the day. I tried not to think too far ahead. I didn't want to spend more than a few minutes capturing each shot. 

When I completed this project on my birthday, I didn't realize how much I would miss the daily ritual of it. I will continue to post new images from time to time because I really enjoy making them.

Follow Tere on Instagram HERE and see all of her #365daysof47 posts HERE


Food 365

Darci Lenker in Norman, Oklahoma is creating Food 365...




What is your project about? I am embroidering a tiny piece of food every day for a year and giving them all away in exchange for a donation to helping hungry people. People can follow the link and sign up to receive one in the mail. The donations can be anything from dropping food off at a shelter or Little Free Pantry, donating money to a food bank, helping with a community garden, paying off school lunch fines, helping a food insecure family, or whatever else someone can think of. I wanted to encourage others to also give what they could. It is unfathomable that there are so many food insecure people.


Why did you decide to do this project? I was really unhappy with the outcome of the last election, and felt I needed to do something to feel like I was helping make a better world in some way. I did a 365 project last year with embroidered circles, so I had some idea what I was doing, at least when it came to preparation, and I had some idea of what would be involved in completing my goal.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life?
The project takes a lot more time every day than I anticipated, but it's incredibly rewarding to feel like I'm making some small difference in the world. I had no idea it would spread as far as it has. So far I've sent foods to 33 states, 10 countries, and 5 continents. Connecting with people all over the world through social media and then again through the postal service is really fun for me. I'm almost halfway through this project and have already started plans for next year.

Follow the project HERE and sign-up to be a part of it HERE!



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