Earlier this year (I think... I no longer have any concept of time), I planned to start a photo project whereby I would take a photo every day for a year. I thought I would do a self-portrait project: a different photo of me for every day.
I don't like to take photos of myself, so after some consideration I convinced myself that I couldn't take a photo of myself every day for a year. I may still take some self portraits over the year, but not every day.
I did think of just taking a photo of anything every day for a year, but I wanted a theme, and I just couldn't come up with one.
Pathetic, yes?
Four days a week, I drive over the Champlain Bridge to and from work. And almost every time, I look at the beauty of the Ottawa River, looking to the expanse of the river to the west and the downtown core of the city to the east.
And it hit me: I wasn't going to do a 365 project this year. Instead, every time I cross the bridge, I will stop on Bate Island, the large island along the bridge, and shoot a photo. And I will stand on the same spot each time, use the same lens, and capture the same image. So, over the course of the year, you will see the change in the seasons, the lighting, and the weather over the course of the year.
Not every day of the year, but just every day that I cross the bridge. Without exception. In all weather, whether I drive across the bridge or take my bike.
What do you think?
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| No filters, no touchups. Just the way I shot it. |
Update: as promised, I stopped on my way in this morning. For the next few weeks and through next winter, this will be quite the challenge. When the snow falls, only the main roads onto the island are plowed. The secondary roads are snow-covered and there are no parking spaces, which means that I must pull over along the road and schlep through the deep snow for about 100 metres or so to get to this spot. It's not easy but that's the way it is.
You can see my photos for the Bate Island Project on my Flickr page.
I love this idea - it's kind of a neat inspiration and I might try something similar. Alas, without as dramatic a view :)
ReplyDelete"Without as dramatic a view"? Are you kidding me?? Aren't you across the East River from NYC?
ReplyDeleteI'll swap places with you any time, my friend.
Bate Island looks toward our downtown core but I wish it was closer to the city. With my 50mm lens, the photo in this post shows pretty much what my eye sees.
Thanks, as always, for your kind words.