Sonny Pictures

Sonja Schoemaker in Almere, The Netherlands is shooting photos of things that are pink every day in her project Sonny Pictures...

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to start the 365 pink project in the time I had lost my job. I wanted to learn more about photography and my Nikon camera and to keep myself in to a daily creative motivation.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? My project is today 159 days old. I haven't missed a day of shooting a pink picture and I already learned a lot of things like tenacity and proud. I have started to look different at things. Documenting my daily (pink) pictures is like a diary for me. It keeps me positive and motivated. For me it is a lot more than just shoot a photo a day.

To help myself at non-inspirated pink days I got by with a little help from my Matryoshka dolls. They are already my dearest friends.

See all of Sonja's pictures HERE. 

EyeTry365

Grace Renovo in The Netherlands is attempting to do something creative daily in EyeTry365...

She explains, "My main theme for the project will be eyes - since they are something which fascinate me, but my creative attempts will not always feature eyes as there are lots of mediums I would like to try my hand with."

Why did you decide to do this project? This year I'm on a quest to express. I feel as though I've been stifled for a long time and I'm using creativity to try and channel my expression and become more self-aware and forfilled.

Recently I came across the book 365: A Daily Creativity Journal and this helped fuel my quest of expression and become more disciplined in my creative practice.



How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? This project is only a few days old and so I cannot comment too much about it's affect on my life. However, I've discovered a new enthusiasm for creativity and over the past couple of days seen my surroundings differently - since I'm always on the look out for ways to make an eye with whatever happens to be within eyesight!

It will be interesting to see if I manage to keep it up - since I have a string of unfinished projects and ideas behind me. e.g. my last website.

See all of Grace's tries HERE.

What's On My Table Today

Ana Belchí in Valencia, Spain is sharing a picture of her work daily in her project What's on my table today.

She explains, "The only self-imposed rule is to take a photo every day, no matter the time; or if the work is finished; or if I'm in the studio, at home or on the road lecturing. At the end of the year I will ride a video with them all. And we can see how my work change over time or if I work in a different way depending on the season. Or if my own style evolved over short or long period."

Why did you decide to do this project? This is something that commits yourself to work every day. When you work as a freelancer in a creative job is really easy to procrastinate and lie yourself saying things like "Oh I'm in creative storm now and I can't sit in front of my table to work'". I have a Picasso quote "Inspiration exists must it has to find you working" all the time in my mind so take a picture every day helps a lot to avoid laziness.

On the other hand it is something that allow you to understand the way you work. If your process is organized or anarchic. Or if you focus on one project from the beginning to the end. At the end it could help to analyze the way you work.

Besides My job is also teach is something I propose to my student to help them to improve their creativity. Some of them have joined to the project also.

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? The project is now in its third part, and I can feel that something has changed in my way of working.

I feel excited to decide what time is most important in my day or what is most representative.

I notice that I'm [prone] to procrastinate, so this is improving my desire to be sitting in my workbench. I take long work days and I have to programs some alarms on my mobile to remember that I have to eat or pick my son from the school. So I'm meeting again with my inner passion.

My creativity has grown also, and I have a lot new ideas that born while I'm working

I also realize that some of my students are more confident with their work.

I appreciate the feedback I have from the social network. I realize from the very first step if a new collection works or not. Before doing this I worked in a full collection and show when it was completely finished. Now I can dismiss or modify and idea depending of the feedback I get.

At the beginning of the project I was always focused on the final video. That was the goal, but now this feeling has change I don't care about the final "product" I'm enjoying the road.

See all of Ana's work HERE. 

Diana's Writing Challenge

Diana Joiner who is "floating between Baltimore, MD and Ocean City, MD" is creating a Writing Challenge inspired by my book. 

 

She explains, "A friend of mine sent me your book all the way from Vienna to remind me to continue working on my craft. I was amazed by the different projects and artwork that resulted from your 365 challenge, but I’m no artist. I’m actually god awful at art; I’m way better with words. So, instead, I decided to start a fictional story and build on it with each challenge, incorporating the task into the next plot development. Some tasks I use in a different context to flow with the story, but I’ve loved seeing what I’ve come up with so far. I’ve got a historical cult-conspiracy on my hands; who knew that would happen?!"

 

Why did you decide to do this project? I decided to do this project to challenge my creativity and myself through writing. I’m going through that awkward, mid-twenties where-is-my-place-in-this-world phase in my life and needed something to “lose” myself in that was a fun, but applicable, release from all the stress. Plus, it was time for me to write a new badass story. I was overdue for that.

 

How has doing a yearlong/daily project affected your life? It’s given me a whole new sense of confidence and imagination. I’m taking my writing to the next level, staying open-minded, flexible, and inventive in what I come up with. The fact that I’m also posting my story little by little on my website for people to see my progress has been scary, but also encouraging. I wasn’t expecting people to be so invested and curious to know what happens next, so their engagement has been my virtual cheerleader urging me to keep going. Plus, it's holding me seriously accountable, which is like an additional challenge in itself.

 

Follow Diana's story HERE.